


Blood Bonds

by jubilantfray



Category: The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Bathroom Sex, Counter Sex, Declarations Of Love, Eventual Smut, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Face Slapping, Implied/Referenced Incest, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Magical Pregnancy, Multiple Orgasms, Oral Sex, Outdoor Sex, Ripper Stefan, Romance, Rough Sex, Unplanned Pregnancy, Violence, Woman on Top, sex in a cemetery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-07
Updated: 2015-12-02
Packaged: 2018-02-20 08:08:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 48
Words: 53,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2421377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jubilantfray/pseuds/jubilantfray
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post S5 E22 with some incorporation of S6 E1.</p><p>It seems they have all moved on with their lives, but will they be accepting of the others decisions?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Family Ties

**Author's Note:**

> This story has morphed into something pretty deep and I'm running with it. I will continue to incorporate pictures/gifs as I can (if I find something that meets what my mind's eye has imagined). Some of the chapters are based off of a picture/gif of Elena & Jeremy or Lucrezia & Cesare Borgia, or Klaroline. Most can be found here ... https://www.tumblr.com/blog/jubilantfray

Elena Gilbert liked to indulge in steamy romance novels that involved forbidden love. She also thoroughly enjoyed watching movies and television series about the same. Some of her favorites include Flowers in the Attic (her all-time favorite book) and The Borgia’s (her all-time favorite television series). She totally shipped Chris and Cathy Dollanganger as well as Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia. Chris and Cathy’s romance was much different than what was portrayed in The Borgia’s as Lucrezia and Cesare’s love. She actually had pined for Lucrezia and Cesare when the series was abruptly ended. She just knew that they would have a love above all over loves, even though it was plain sibling incest. And their motto … “the only one that can love a Borgia is another Borgia” tugged at her heartstrings every time she heard Lucrezia croon them to Cesare. She would watch the series over and over again, when she was alone that is.

None of her friends would get it and they probably wouldn’t approve or ship it either. She had dreams of being Lucrezia Borgia and Cesare sweeping in and carrying her away from danger and then making love to her all night. And the young man that played Cesare Borgia, he was gorgeous. To die for gorgeous. His dark hair and dark eyes, almost a brooding look – Elena loved that look in men. Then she thought of Stefan.

Stefan Salvatore sometimes had a brooding look, but he certainly was not dark haired and eyes. He had lighter features. Sure, she had been attracted to him, but she had also been attracted to the fair complected Matt Donovan. But then there was Damon. Damon Salvatore. He definitely had a dark broody, or was that bloody, look about him. However, Damon’s eyes were ice blue that could almost pierce you through the heart when he looked at you the right way. Elena had felt that stab – in her heart as well as in her crotch many times. But now he was gone. When the other side collapsed, it took both Damon and Bonnie away from her.

Elena had cried for what seemed like months. She even dreamt that Damon was trying to contact her, so she basically forced the witch, Luke, to give her some witchy drugs so she could hallucinate him. Once the effects of the drugs stopped working and the hallucinations were gone, Elena was forced to face the facts that almost everyone was gone.

She heard the scoop from Caroline at least once a week, about who was where and doing what and doing who. Stefan had moved out of the state and was now working and living a human life as best he could. He had even taken a lover and no longer contacted Elena. He was devastated over the loss of his brother, Damon, and also over the loss of Lexi for the second time.

Tyler was going to school at Whitmore College. He had joined the football team and was doing fairly well. Even though his werewolf gene had been reactivated, he seemed to be handling it well based off of what Caroline told her.

Matt was also at Whitmore College. He had gotten a full ride scholarship created from someone Caroline compelled at the college, however Matt did not know that and was never to be told. He was maintaining a very high grade point average and was also helping Sheriff Forbes to handle the supernatural beings that occasionally still plagued Mystic Falls.

Caroline was … well, Caroline had finally given into her true feelings and was living a blissful life with Klaus Mikaelson in New Orleans. Caroline had resisted her feelings for Klaus for many years, hiding her feelings behind her viciousness to him. Once she accepted it, or once she really accepted her feelings after their vampire sex one night/day stand in the woods, she was able to fulfill that emptiness in her heart that that been there while Klaus was in New Orleans trying to do whatever it was he does – get the town back or something like that. Elena tried to remember exactly what it was Caroline said that Klaus was doing in New Orleans besides having a baby with another werewolf. The werewolf girl had died during childbirth and Klaus and Caroline were raising the baby together as their own now. Caroline confided in Elena that their sex was off the hook and Elena wished she could have that one day as well.

Elena was facing the fact that everyone was gone, everyone except for Jeremy.

Jeremy had grieved for Bonnie, tried to find someone to help them get Bonnie and Damon back, but it had been over a year and both Elena and Jeremy had accepted the fact that they were never coming back. Liv, the witch that Tyler was dating, had tried her best out of guilt to recreate the spell, but they all surmised that since the other side had collapsed, there was nothing that could be done.

Elena still felt a twinge of emotion when she thought of Damon, but she was now able to think of the good times with him and miss him still, but no longer have that crushing grief that had consumed her for so long. Jeremy helped her when she finally divulged to him that she had been taking witchy drugs to hallucinate seeing Damon. He was very supportive and loving and said he would always be there for her regardless of what happened.

And Elena knew that – she knew that Jeremy would always be there for her, much like Cesare was there for Lucrezia.


	2. Solitude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile in New Orleans ...

“What is Stefan to you?” Klaus snarled, his werewolf nature kicking into high gear, that predisposition of intense jealousy over her former loves and lovers.

“Unrequited love,” Caroline sighed pulling him closer to her.

“Did you love him ….?” Klaus thundered at her statement.

“Unrequired love for him, not me,” Caroline panted as he gnawed gently on her bottom lip then thrust his tongue deep into her mouth, it frolicking with her tongue. He pawed her shirt off, ripped her bra open exposing her milky orbs with rosy points.

“What about Tyler, what was he to you?” Klaus growled, dragging his tongue over the hollow between her collar bones and trailing a line down between her breasts.

“Puppy love,” Caroline gasped as he took one of her nipples into his mouth.

“How ironic, my love,” Klaus said looking up at her, displaying his teeth as he went in to suckle her other pinkish peak.

“And Matt Donovan,” he hissed caressing his hands over her sides and slipping them under her backside.

“Rebound,” she moaned as he worked his soft kisses back up her neck, over her jaw line and close to her ear again, now fondling her breasts with gentle strokes of his hands.

Klaus growled again quietly then nuzzled into her hair while commencing to tug open her denims.

“His rebound … after Elena,” she breathed heavily as Klaus began to slide her jeans down over her hips, his lips never leaving her body.

“Now that we have established that they are your past, I will show you how I intend to be your present and your future,” Klaus whispered to her, looking up at her from between her legs as he rubbed her lace covered mound with his nose.

“You said you wanted to be my last love,” Caroline said breathily, yanking at the shirt on his back.

“I am your last love,” he said to her, pulling her panties down, sucking gently on what was hidden beneath the folds causing shivers to run through her entire body.

“Please, Klaus, please, just take me," Caroline begged.

“Not yet,” he hissed and continued teasing her with his tongue.

"How long are you going to torture me like this?” she panted.

"However long it takes," Klaus said, teasing her some more, this time with his words.

 


	3. Stand By Me

“Jer,” Elena yelled up the stairs of their new home.

“Yeah?” Jeremy replied.

“I’m going to order some take-out. Would you like some?” Elena asked Jeremy.

“Um, sure, I’ll be right down.”

Jeremy came bounding down the stairs, jumping the last few and landing right in front of his sister. Elena had fast reflexes, super-fast reflexes in fact, seeing as she was a vampire. She jumped out of his way and he laughed and pulled her in for a hug.

“Sorry, Elena,” he chuckled, “I couldn’t help it. I just wanted to see your reaction and see if you would smile that bright gorgeous smile for me.”

“Sheesh, Jeremy,” Elena said to him, smacking him lightly on the shoulder, “you scared me, you dork!” And they laughed together, ordered Chinese take-out and watched movies until they both fell asleep on opposite ends of the couch, legs intertwined.

Things between them had been strained many times over their lifetime. Times like when they found out they were not brother and sister but that they were cousins. And when Elena started liking/dating Damon, because Jeremy really didn’t like him and Damon was kind of an ass to him. Also when Elena became a vampire, and when Jeremy died and then came back, and I mean really died and Elena burned the house down around him. And then when Elena found out that Jeremy and Bonnie were sleeping together. That was certainly the most awkward of the times, at least to Elena.

Elena never had really been able to get used to the fact that Jeremy and Bonnie were dating, or had dated. Elena just couldn’t picture them together – they looked awkward together and Elena certainly did not ship it. She hadn’t really shipped Jeremy with any girl he had been with so far. And he hadn’t been with anyone since Bonnie, and neither had Elena been with anyone since Damon.

But they were close now, Jeremy and Elena, probably closer than they had ever been. They had decided to use the money they inherited from their family’s deaths (you know, their mom, dad, aunt Jenna, Elena’s real mom and dad/Jer’s uncle John) and the insurance money from their house that “accidentally” burned down to build a new home for themselves. The house was much like the one they grew up in, however the square footage was nearly double that of what their suburban home had been. They built right on the outskirts of Mystic Falls, on the other side of the town from where the Salvatore home was. There were still four bedrooms, but two of them were master suites – Jeremy in one and Elena in the other.

Jeremy was a vampire hunter and both he and Elena would live long lives. Jeremy had learned to control or turn off his desire to kill Elena years ago, so there was no problem with their close proximity. And money was not a problem as Damon had left Elena everything he had and Stefan had agreed to it. The Salvatore home stood empty now, but was cared for by someone that Stefan had hired and would always be maintained.


	4. My Brother's Keeper

They were still in his bed, snuggling as she liked to call it. Some how, Lily never seemed to notice that Stefan's skin was remarkably cooler than his. Talk tended to get deep, moving towards his past or hers. He avoided his past as much as possible. Exactly how do you explain to the woman you are boinking that you have more than 100 years of past.

This time, Lily had directed the conversation towards past relationships. He was getting tired of the charade; he was getting tired of everything to be completely honestly. He Stefan resisted the urge to just scream it all at her.

“Yeah, I loved her,” Stefan told the woman lying in the sheets next to him when she asked about Caroline again. I thought the feeling was mutual, but I don't think it was ever returned. I could always try again in a hundred years.”

She laughed and said, “I’m sorry, baby,” to the vampire. She had no clue he was vampire, and his attempts at revealing himself to her were met with giggles and disbelief.

“Oh, it’s no big deal,” he said, kissing the top of her head, “it is over and done with, a part of my past. It's a past I never want to remember or relive even though it is physically possible to relive.”

Stefan had not told her about his brother, how he had been stuck on the other side and was now gone, as gone as gone can be. He did, however, tell her about Elena and Caroline.

He told her how Elena had been what he thought was his one true love, but that it didn’t work out as he had hoped. It had been an utter disaster that she had fallen in love with his brother instead, but he didn’t tell her that either.

He told her that Caroline was a wonderful, special woman and he could have spent the rest of his life loving her, but she had fallen for another man before Stefan even developed feelings for her. She had only thought of him as a good friend, probably a best friend, but nothing more.

“They are both in other towns now and happy with their lives, and I am happy with mine,” he said leaning up slightly to kiss her lips.

“Do you miss them?” Lily asked Stefan.

“I miss the friendship at times, but Caroline still stays in touch,” Stefan replied. He thought about how Caroline was seeking out her happily ever after in New Orleans with Klaus. He hoped that Klaus had changed like Caroline assured him he had. Guess time would tell on that issue as well.

“We, well, I guess it is just me, I own a home in Mystic Falls and it is sitting empty right now. I thought about selling it, but I might want to go back to it one day, so I have someone caring for it and the grounds so it will be maintained in its current condition,” he continued.

“REALLY? You have a home there? Let’s go! Take me to see it,” Lily begged.

Stefan was quick to shut her down, as he wanted to go nowhere near that town right now. While he had moved on, things were still a bit fresh. If the need presented itself, he would go, but otherwise, he was fine in Portland.

Portland had been his and Lexi's thing. They were going to meet there, start a new life. Lexi had been his best friend, someone that Caroline would have called a BFF. She had died, too. Damon had killed her. At least that was how Stefan remembered it. He wasn't remembering everything clearly these days. Most of what had happened in Mystic Falls in the past few years now felt like a dream. Between his doppelgangers, being kidnapped by Silas, falling in and out of love with Elena, loving Caroline, had he loved Caroline, that's where things kind of fell apart.

Then Damon. The loss of his brother still shook him to the core. He loved his brother and felt like they needed each other, but he was gone. Not that they hadn't tried to get him back. Stefan chased leads and tried to find his own leads, and when he found himself in Portland without any more leads and with basically nothing, he had to stop. He got a job as a mechanic, and didn't even have to compel the owner to give him the job. Found an apartment that suited him. Then he met Lily and things started to fall into place. A different kind of place. Different than he had ever known. 

He had been separated from Damon before, for years at a time even, but this was different because there was a finality to it. He was by himself, the last of his line, not including the doppelgangers. And he hated it, and himself for not getting Damon back. He couldn't talk to Elena. He stopped answering when she called and he never called her. It hurt too much. Not that they had been in a relationship previously - what hurt was how much she had hurt. Removing himself from her overwhelming grief helped him to work through the motions as well. And now, now he didn't know what he was going to do. He was just going to exist and go through the motions. It was the only thing he could do.


	5. Heart of Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonnie and Damon are still grieving, missing Jeremy and Elena. They work out their frustrations with each other.

They had been lingering, no, more like they were stuck, in the Mystic Falls cemetery for some months now, with nothing to do but talk. There were no other people, or ghosts, or souls or whatever they were now, except for Bonnie’s Gram that popped in every once in a while. She literally popped in and popped back out with no warning or clue that it was to happen. Bonnie's grandmother, Gram to almost everyone, had been deceased for years. She had passed after performing a spell that drained her of her entire life force.  Gram came to talk in code to Bonnie. Witchy talk was what Damon called it. But when Gram wasn't there, it was only the two of them. Only Bonnie and only Damon. 

Damon missed Elena like he had never missed anyone in his life. He missed her more than he had missed his mother after her untimely death when he was a wee babe. He was so angry; angry at himself that he got into this situation to begin with. If only he had listened to Elena's pleadings and not waited, but unlike Damon, he had done the right thing for once and look at where it landed him. Dead. Really dead. Not like vampire dead; he had been that way for one hundred and thirty years now. He was dead dead. 

Bonnie and Damon had never really gotten along, and no one would consider them friends. Damon had done some really shitty things to Bonnie and her family over the years they had known each other. And after Bonnie started dating Elena's brother, Jeremy, Damon seemed to treat Bonnie even worse. And now fate had put them together, alone, on the other side, stuck together for what could possibly be eternity. So, they talked and cried and screamed to each other about how they missed their friends and loved ones and how much they wished they were stuck there with anyone else but the other. There were days they nary said a word to each other, but there were also days that they talked about anything and everything. They had talked about every possible subject. Or so it seemed. 

“Is there sex in heaven?” Bonnie suddenly asked Damon.

“Well, Bon Bon, I don’t know,” he said abruptly back to her, his blue eyes piercing straight through her, his brow furrowed with deeper question.

“I mean, I always pictured hell to have fiery orgies and pools of people on one another with the devil spearing one of them up every so often on his pitch fork thingy and eating them whole. But heaven, I never really pictured there to be sex in heaven. But people love each other there, so isn’t that something you do with someone you love?” Bonnie questioned.

“You ask a lot of questions, Bonnie,” Damon said exasperatedly, poking a stick at the leaf on the bush in front of a grave stone.

“Yeah, I guess I do ask a lot of questions, Damon,” Bonnie said to the ghostly vampire. "What else is there to do?"

“Why do you want to know if there is sex in heaven?” he asked her nonchalantly, picking at the already shredded leaf.

“Because if I fall in love up there, I want to be able to express my feelings sexually again,” she said to him.

“So, you are horny, is that what you are trying to tell me, Bon Bon?”

“Uh, NO Damon, that is not what I am saying ….”

"Yes you are!" Damon chided her. 

"No, I just asked a simple question. That is all. Just forget I even said anything," Bonnie sighed. 

"Right. Forget it she says. You brought up sex, Bonnie. You want me to forget that you asked ME about sex?" Damon turned and looked at her, his blue eyes boring into her. “Because I might be able to help you out just once if that’s what it is all about,” he told her, waggling his eyebrows at her.

She punched him, hard, right on the biceps and he winced a bit, more for show than out of hurt.

“Fuck off, Damon,” she said.

“Ok, if you want to,” he continued to tease her.

She slugged him again, this time harder and added in a slap across the face.

“Yeah, baby, I like it when you get rough,” Damon hissed at her, holding her wrist and made sure she saw him licking his lips.

“Let me go, Damon," Bonnie said through gritted teeth. He continued the hold on her wrist, neither tight nor exactly the loosest of grips.

"I mean it Damon, let go,” she hissed back.

“What if I said no,” he asked her.

She struggled to free her wrist for a minute, then just made a fist and glared at him.

“You can’t start a conversation about sex with me and then just end it,” Damon said to her through his own clenched teeth.

“Why? You aren’t the least bit interested in me and I am definitely not interested in you,” she growled.

“We do not have to be interested in each other to screw, Bonnie,” he said to her.

“I don’t _screw_ , Damon,” she said to him.

“I can show you how,” he said to her, waggling his eyebrows again at her.

“Fuck off!” she said.

“Again, if you want to,” he replied.

She went to slap his face again but he stopped her and pulled her in and kissed her hard on the mouth. She struggled for a moment then relaxed into his kiss. When she was fully pliable in his arms, he pushed her back and smiled.

Bonnie made the motion to slap his face again, and again Damon stopped her hand, catching it by the wrist and wrapped his free hand around her waist and pulled her into him. He stopped his lips just inches from her and she stood there, glaring at him while he looked down into her deep brown eyes that were flaring with hatred.

She was scared and pissed and _what the hell, I’m aroused at this?_ Bonnie thought to herself.

Damon let her go and Bonnie still stood there, glaring at him.

“What would Jeremy think of you now?” he hissed at her.

“FUCK YOU, DAMON!” she screamed at him.

“I’ve already told you OK, Bon Bon. What are you waiting for?” he said teasingly.

“I love Jeremy, and I hate you!” she shouted at him.

“Well, that makes two of you that hate me then, because I am sure Elena hates me."

"Why the fuck would Elena hate you?" Bonnie spat at him. Her anger was boiling over. Or was that arousal. She was beginning to have trouble telling the difference honestly.

"Because I lied to her,” Damon said quietly.

Bonnie softened a little and touched his arm, “She doesn’t hate you, Damon. She misses you and is sad, grieving for you.”

“And I am grieving for her,” he said looking down at his boots.

“I know. We are both grieving for those we lost. But you know, you can really be an ass sometimes,” she said to him, turning her back.

"You have treated me like a piece of trash almost from the moment we met, Damon," as she turned back around to face him. She snatched the stick out his hands, turned her back on him again and said "Why do you have to be so, ugh!" 

Damon squished up his face slightly, wincing at the verbal daggers she was throwing at him.

“It’s more fun than being nice,” he retorted, “by the way, I’ve never noticed _your_ ass before. It’s pretty hot.”

She turned again and crossed the space between them, raised her hand, almost hoping he would stop her before she planted it firmly on his cheek for the second time. And he did, just as she had hoped. However this time, instead of just holding her wrist, he kissed it right on her pulse point and pulled her tightly to him with his other arm wrapped around her waist, hand firmly grasping her ass.

“Are you going to bite me there, too?” she said, ridiculing him and what he was.

“Only if you want me to,” he quipped, his eyes bright with the flame of desire, desire for any relief from the grief he felt over his losses.

He didn’t really want Bonnie, not in a sexual way, but he would have had anger sex with anyone that was available at the time, and he continued to piss her off and arouse her at the same time. He knew what he was doing, he had done it before, many times with many other women.

“I want you to let me go,” she said struggling slightly. She was confused. The warmth and touch of a man was nice but this was a man she hated with all of her being.

“You want me to kiss you?” he said twisting her words and he brought his mouth down to her shoulder, right where it met her neck. Right where he liked to bite.

She struggled even more, but his mouth felt delicious on her skin. She never thought that his mouth and breath would be warm, let alone hot. Bonnie tried to pull away again, but Damon held her tight.

“Let me go, Damon!” she shouted again.

“Why? No one is looking,” he said into her neck, drawing a trail of small nips with his teeth up her neck towards her jawline.

“What if my Gram comes back?” she said.

Damon stopped lavishing kisses on her beautiful milk chocolate skin and looked down at her, boring holes in the eyes. Softly he said to her, “You want me to stop because your Gram might come back? I thought you hated me and hated what I was doing, hated that I was touching you?”

“No. I mean, yes. I mean, I do want you to stop touching me. Oh for fuck's sake, Damon. Stop touching me there and start touching me here,” she breathed, panting into the air, her chin raised high so he had better access to the tender parts of her neck.

“Right there?” he said as he brought his mouth and tongue down on the spot she exposed for him. Again, a spot he liked to bite and drink blood from.

Bonnie’s mixed emotions overwhelmed her again. She was thinking of Jeremy, Jeremy kissing her and touching her, holding her close, but it was DAMON!

“STOP!” she said, trying to wiggle out of his clutches again.

“What the hell, Bonnie?” Damon asked her, still holding her tight, “Do you want it or not?”

“No, I don’t want it!” she said.

“Too late, I’ve already started, and now I’m finishing,” he said menacingly into her ear, sticking his tongue inside and biting her ear lobe with his sharp teeth as he backed her up against the mausoleum wall.

“OUCH! STOP!” she said, trying to squirm away from him again. He was markedly stronger than her and held her tight, so tight she felt like she was in a vice. She could still breathe, but they came in breathy pants as he licked her neckline and sucked on her skin.

Damon held her close, nibbled on her neck, sucked on her collar bone, staying away from any veins. He might not be able to stop if he nipped one of those open. If that happened, he would surely drain her, kill her, but would she die? He wondered about that. Still he stayed away from them. His lust, not for her but for anyone, his carnal desires ran rampant and he couldn’t stop himself. He pulled at her clothes, and she struggled. He gently nipped her shoulder and grasped her buttocks with his hands, pulling her in so she could feel his hard member in his jeans.

She gasped when she felt his hardness. She gasped from shock, and fear, and desire. _Oh no, not that again_ she thought. She felt herself start to lose control; control of the anger of him touching her, kissing her, mauling her with his mouth on her skin.

She realized that her hand had wandered up into his hair and was holding him tight to her skin. He unbuttoned her flimsy blouse, one that was best suited for summer weather it had been when they were sucked from the other side into wherever they were now. She began to lose herself, all of her senses, except the ones that were filled with arousal. And Damon sensed that.

“Yeah, you like that, don’t you, Bon Bon?” he whispered, bringing her back to reality, in a sense of the word.

Suddenly she remembered. Jeremy. “No! Stop!” she said again, so lost in her state of arousal that she was not really meaning it, but meaning it because she was telling herself to stop. "Don't stop," she sighed as he continued his ministrations on her neck and shoulders. His hands continued to knead her buttocks nearly lifting her off her feet as he dragged her pelvis across his crotch. Bonnie sighed audibly. Damon could feel and smell her lust for him.

He decided right then that would not kiss her mouth again. It would have been too intimate now. He just wanted her body, wanted to use it and lose himself in it. Kissing like that lead to emotional attachment, and he would never be emotionally attached to any woman other than Elena. He would especially not ever be emotionally attached to Bonnie Bennett. However, his desire to crush the ache inside of him was well worth any consequences these actions might produce.

Damon removed Bonnie's shirt in stealth-like fashion exposing her bra. His brain quickly noted the cream colored lace and how it was a nice accent over her smooth dark skin. He brought his mouth down over her bra and tried to seek out her nipples which pushed hard against the lace. He wanted to taste them, bite them, but most of all, he wanted them to be Elena's. 

“Damon, wait, why are we doing this?” she said to him

“Bonnie, shhh!!”, he said to her, bringing his mouth to her other lace covered dome. Damon found that he was aroused by her body, but when she talked, he wanted to get angry again, and she talked a lot.

“No, Damon, STOP!” she said again, as he fumbled with unclasping the front of her bra, however she let it fall away from her body exposing her coffee colored spheres. She had near black areola and her nipples had just a tinge of pink. He sucked one of them into his mouth and flicked his tongue over it.

Bonnie sucked in her breath and pawed at his head trying to get him to stop.

“Stop, I said,” she whispered.

“No. I’m taking you, right here, right now,” he growled at her, and unbuttoned her shorts and slid them down her legs. Her underwear matched her bra and he could see her dark hair beneath and smell her spicy scent. Every woman smelled different, but he had loved Elena’s scent the most. Bonnie’s was different than any he had ever experienced. It aroused him, but it did not make him want to lose control like Elena’s smell had.

“No!” she whispered again.

“I prefer yes,” he said as he knelt in front of her and buried his nose in her lace covered snatch.

“I said no, Damon.”

But when he looked up at her, her eyes were closed and she still had her fingers wrapped in his hair.

“OK, no, I won’t stop,” he spoke into her upper thigh as he began to pull her panties down. She gasped again and opened her eyes, but she did not struggle this time. She leaned back against the stone walls of the tomb, and slightly spread her legs for him. Damon brought his mouth to her russet colored fleshy folds and licked her slit. Bonnie gasped and then sighed as he buried his tongue in her pink hole.

Emotions and endorphins rushed through Bonnie's body. Overwhelming desire mixed with the deepest regret and guilt. As Damon licked in and out of her, she felt herself start to fall into the pool of arousal again, but then there was that gut wrenching guilt again. She grasped hard at his hair and tried to pull him away, but he was persistent and still much stronger than her. 

“No, Damon, don’t stop. I mean, stop, we can’t, this is wrong, Oh GOD!” she yelped as he licked his tongue in circles around her hooded pod, flicking it from side to side and encompassed it with his entirely wet, hot mouth.

Damon easily brought Bonnie to her ecstasy. Bonnie shouted at him the entire time, telling him to stop and not stop, all whilst panting and pulling at his hair, screaming _why_ and _what are we doing_ and _fuck you_ into the air.

“OK, if you insist,” Damon said to the latter. He stood up in front of Bonnie and unbuttoned his own jeans. She started to lean over to bring her own underwear back up, but he stopped her, grasping both of her wrists in one hand. Damon lowered his pants down with one hand and let his manhood spring from his shorts. He took one of Bonnie's hand and brought it towards his shaft and she shook her head.

“No, I won’t,” she said to him.

“Yes, you will,” he said forcefully to her. He forced the back of her hand to gently stroke his member, and she felt the silky skin against it.

“No, we shouldn’t. I can’t, this is wrong,” she said to him.

“I just ate you out, and you can’t touch my dick?” he said to her.

“NO! This is wrong, Damon! Don’t touch me! Let me go!” she cried and tried to worm her way from his clutches. 

“No! I won’t let you go. We are going to find out what sex is like in heaven,” Damon calmly said to her continuing to make the back of her hand rub against him.

“This is NOT heaven!” she shouted.

“You are right. It isn’t. It is our own personal hell I suppose, but I am not stopping and you know you want it,” he said quickly to her leaning down and kissing her neck again. It was that spot again, the one he liked to bite and this time, he nipped her gently and then just a little bit harder drawing just a small drop of blood.

“Ow!” she said startled at the pain. The sudden shock of pain caused her to open her hand in his grip, so he took the opportunity to place his rod on her smooth palm. She could not resist but to feel it, it was malleable even though it was hard. Hard but pliable. She began to stroke it in her hand, lost in the feeling of it, supple in her hand, growing as she fondled it.

Damon caressed one of her breasts as she played with his manhood as if she had never touched one before. Bonnie massaged it and manipulated it in her hands, looking down at what she was doing, and at Damon rubbing her breast. She leaned back against the stone wall again and he watched her eyes close.

“I’m going to enter you now,” he said to her, removing his organ from her hands.

Her eyes flew open. “NO! Not that, we cannot! Damon, please!”

“Yes, I prefer yes, and we will, and we can, and we are going to,” he whispered into her hair as he nuzzled her neck again, pressing her against the wall. He lifted one of her legs with his arms and held her upright. His other hand held his shaft and stroked her damp slit, the head massaging her clit. He let the head slide inside of her slightly then pulled back out and again massaged her knobby bit with the wetted head again.

“Stop, Damon, don’t. We can’t, we shouldn’t,” she panted, shaking her head back and forth, eyes closed.

“Yes, I prefer yes, say it Bonnie,” he beseeched her.

“No, I can’t, stop,” still shaking her head, but no longer fighting him with anything but her words.

“Yes, say yes,” he begged as he pushed into her a little further with each thrust.

“No, stop. Don’t. Please. Don’t,” she whispered into his neck, now beginning to bite at his skin. She held onto his muscular arms, clenching at his biceps as he pushed into her over and over again. He placed his hands behind her back so that it would not hurt so much as he plowed into her, forcing her into the rock enclosure behind her.

“No, stop,” she continued to say.

“Yes,” he said again, finally so exasperated with her telling him to stop that he ceased his rocking movements.

“No, don’t stop, please don’t stop,” she panted, clutching still at his arms, biting at his neck.

“Yes, that’s right,” he said and he began thrusting back up in to her, his member slick with her liquids, gliding in and out of her, eliciting mews of enjoyment.

His pants were around his ankles, his shirt was ripped a bit where Bonnie pulled on it as she climaxed the first time, and his white buttocks pulsed as he pounded his manhood into her slick opening.

“Yes, it feels good, doesn’t it,” he whispered in her ear after she came the first time. She sought his mouth, but he turned his head.

“No, no kissing,” he said to her.

“I prefer yes,” she said teasingly.

“No,” he said, stopping his hips swaying again. Bonnie sought his mouth and he let her have his neck and began to seek his gratification again. Damon beat into her notch, his pelvic bone slapping against her muff. He could feel her walls clenching around him and the rapidness of her breath and knew that she was about to climax again. He needed his own release and rode the wave.

“Yes!” she finally screamed as she started to reach her peak.

“That’s a girl, yes,” he whispered to her.

“Yes! Oh god! Yes! YES!” she screamed as she came twice in rapid succession.

Damon came too, but his sounds were quiet and deep in his belly. It was a guttural moan he made caused from missing the woman he wanted to be making love to. Bonnie continued to murmur yes as he finished pumping through her climax and his own. He gently brought her down from their position and released himself from her folds.

He bent over and pulled his pants up around his waist then found Bonnie’s shirt next to him and gathered it in his hand. He handed it to her and knew he should say something. 

“Are you over Jeremy now?” he asked her as he buttoned his pants.

“No. Are you over Elena now?” she asked him, latching her bra and shifting it into place. Bonnie slipped her shirt over her arms and head. She had a rosy hue to her cheeks, but that line was between her brows again.

She looked at him. He was looking down, kicking his boots in the dirt. He moved away slightly from her, but looked back up and caught her eyes with his.

“Never.”


	6. The Confession

Jeremy loved his sister, but she wasn’t really his sister, however at times, he still called her “sis” and felt like she was his sis. There were also times that he felt twinges when he looked at her, and those were definitely not sisterly twinges. They were deep in his belly and made their way like wildfire down to his crotch. He felt dreadfully guilty to have those feelings, but surmised that she was a woman after all, a very well built and endowed woman that dripped sexy in all the right places. So what man wouldn’t feel that way when they saw her walk, listened to her talk or hugged her close smelling her goodness.

Those times when they were younger and Jeremy had helped Elena zip a dress or pull corset strings tight because she could not reach them herself were also times that he had felt something tugging at his groin. He had tried to suppress those feelings, pretend they were not there. However, often, when Jeremy would dream of a woman, a woman he made love to, held and stroked comfortingly after their wild sex, and said I love you to, her face would not materialize until right before he awoke. It was always Elena’s face. Always her face.

Jeremy had once confided in Tyler and told him about his dreams about his sister, cousin, Elena. Tyler had told him that agreed that Elena was hot and what man in their right mind would not fantasize about having sex with her. He never said a word about it being forbidden or wrong or anything other than a general “hell yeah, I would tap that” mentality. Jeremy didn’t really know who to talk to about it after that, so he just let it go and let the feelings come when they did.

And they started getting almost out of control the year after Damon and Bonnie were gone. Not only would Jeremy dream of Elena, he began fantasizing about her during the day and ached to be with her when they were not together. He watched what she was watching on the television without complaining, and also watched what she had watched going through the Netflix lists. When he got to the television series “The Borgia’s” he nearly died. He imagined Cesare was him and that Lucrezia was Elena. He wondered why she liked the show, wondered if it were for the same reason that he seemed to be enjoying it himself. He thought some of the story line completely unnecessary, like the long droning parts with the Pope, but he was not a religious person himself so that might have attributed to that.

One evening, Elena came back from the store rather quickly due to forgetting her wallet (she was bound and determined that she would not live a life of compelling everyone) and found Jeremy watching her favorite show.

“Jer! Are you watching this?!” Elena had asked him, with definite shock and surprise in her tone.

“Uh, oh god, yeah, I’m watching it,” he revealed to her.

“Do you like it?!” she asked.

Jeremy turned all shades of red at that point and finally gave in and told Elena “Yes, I like it. It makes me think of us.”

Elena’s face softened from that of a taunting sibling to that of compassion and understanding.

“You do? Me, too,” Elena divulged in a whisper. “Let’s watch it together, from the very beginning, please?” she begged him.

Before she could even finish her begging sentence, Jeremy was agreeing, wholeheartedly.

So, they watched it, from beginning to end, sighing at the romantic Lucrezia and Cesare parts, gasping at the sad and horrid parts, thinking that the Cesare and Caterina Sforza sex scenes were kind of sexy, loving Micheletto, and hating the Pope referring to himself as plural “we” and droning on like a … well, priest during a long Sunday sermon. But the parts when Cesare kissed Lucrezia, professed his undying love for her, and then that night, when Lucrezia made her way to Cesare’s room, on her own wedding night, and declared him her husband as they made love was the absolute best they both agreed. And Jeremy held her when the series ended again, with Cesare saying that she was his, forever, while he cleaned the blood off of her. Elena cried and Jeremy held her. She was crying because their story was over, and Jeremy held her because he loved her like Cesare loved Lucrezia. He was only just realizing how deep his love for Elena was. He felt like Cesare Borgia, the one portrayed in the series, not the one in the history books. That Cesare led a doomed life and died a horrid death very young. He did not want to be THAT Cesare. He wanted to be Elena’s Cesare.


	7. Hell's Angel

Klaus was out for the day, so Caroline took it upon herself to familiarize herself with the house and grounds. Being within walking distance of the French Quarter was what Klaus had insisted upon, but knowing that their home would be as sprawling as it was, she had no idea. The baby was in her nursery with her nanny, but Caroline would not be gone past her nap time. She wanted Hope to know her as her mommy.

The gardens were well manicured. Sculpted hedges and topiaries, a maze leading the willing walker to the center of the garden where the best of the best plants were. The roses were in full bloom and came in every color Caroline could imagine. She had never seen some of the species of flowers and plants that she was surrounded with. It was beautiful, just divine.

He watched her for a few minutes, as she lingered among the plants with a canopy of trees over her head.

 _She is the most beautiful creature I have ever seen_ he thought to himself.

Caroline sensed him approaching her from behind, and she let him. She had leaned over to smell a yellow rose, they were one of her all-time favorites. Yellow rose of Texas. She stood and smiled at him over her shoulder.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and clasped his hands together in front of her, pulling her backside into his front.

“Hmmmmm,” she sighed as he nuzzled the nape of her neck with his lips and nose.

“Hope still sleeping?” he asked her.

“She actually just went down for her afternoon nap, so she will be out for about 3 to 4 hours I imagine based on her patterns so far. She really is a sweet baby,” she said to him.

“At that she is. And fortunate she never got to meet her real mother and even more fortunate that you are her mother now.”

“I didn’t know Haley, Klaus,” Caroline said to her lover, “I can only go by the fact that she got in between me and Tyler and she must have been ok with you to have sex with at least once.”

“Caroline,” he exclaimed, in shock that she was so brazen about his past love life, “that is one thing that I like about you, love. You speak your mind, regardless of the consequences.”

“Well, Haley is gone, you are mine, at least you keep telling me that, and I will fight any creature to the death for you and Hope,” Caroline expressed.

“That’s my girl,” Klaus said to her, still holding her from behind and wishing they were alone and he could take her right here in the garden next to her yellow roses.

“I have a surprise,” he finally said to her, breaking their minute’s long silence.

She turned in his arms, wrapped hers around the small of his waist and gazed lovingly in his eyes.

“What is it?” she asked him.

“Come and see,” he said to Caroline, taking her by the hand and leading her through the gardens. He led her around the side of their home and to the front circular drive. There sat a gorgeous Harley Davidson soft tail motorcycle, its chrome sparkling in the sunshine.

“Oh WOW!” she exclaimed, “It is a beauty!” as she circled it twice taking it in.

“I had it special ordered a few months ago, just so we could go riding together,” Klaus explained to her, “would you like to go for a ride now?”

“Absolutely!” Caroline exclaimed.

Klaus went into the only open door of the four car garage and came back out holding a pair of leather chaps and a helmet just for Caroline. She giggled as he helped her into the chaps, mainly because he was tenderly caressing her thighs, the curve of her buttocks and that spot where her legs attached to her body.

“Helmets are optional in Louisiana,” he told her, “so yes or no?”

“Umm, just how experienced of a rider are you, my love,” Caroline questioned him, one eye brow raised.

“I’ve been riding for a very long time, you just have never had the opportunity to experience the real me,” he told her.

“Are you in a motorcycle gang?!” she asked him.

Klaus laughed a throaty laugh. “No, love, I’m not in a motorcycle gang, but I do like to get away and just ride with no outside distractions.”

“So, no helmets then, but can we bring them if I change my mind?” she asked.

“Yes, Caroline, we can bring them if you decide that you do not trust my driving capabilities,” and he showed her the storage areas under her portion of the seat. He had also ordered saddle bags, so they could bring whatever they needed basically. And one day, when Hope was old enough, he would order a side car so she could come along as well.

They geared up, packed up, and when Caroline was sitting on the back of the seat, her crotch against Klaus’ backside, she wondered how long they would last without stopping for a romp in the woods. It wasn’t long.

Klaus could feel the softness of Caroline’s breasts against his back, the heat from her crotch against his buttocks as they rode down the long winding streets of the Louisiana countryside. The way she held onto him completely made him dissolve. She was not holding on tight as if she was in fear, she was holding onto him as if she were claiming him. There were times when she would throw her head back, long golden locks streaming behind her, laughing at the sensation of flying down the road with the powerful motor under her and her lover between her legs.

She had fallen for Klaus, there was no doubting that. She loved him as she had loved no other. He completed her and this experience with him was phenomenal.

Klaus reached down beside him, grasped Caroline’s legs and pulled her forwards bringing her tighter against him from the back. She laid her head on his back and wrapped her arms around his middle hugging him securely to her. She felt him sigh. Silent contentedness was common between them, when they were gazing at their child, or satiated from their lovemaking.

Caroline began to stroke her fingertips over his hard abdominal muscles. She could feel his breath quicken when she reached under his shirt to feel his bare skin. She caressed his upper body, lingering intermittently over his small nipples, pinching them gently between her fingers causing his breath to quicken even more. When she trailed one of her hands down over his leather clad crotch, he nearly lost control of the bike. Able to keep the bike upright, he eased over to the side of the deserted road.

With his vampire speed, he spun around on the seat of the motorcycle, scooped Caroline up and placed her down on his lap. She could feel the swell that was nearly splitting the seams of his pants.

“Oh gods, Caroline, your touch makes me near senseless,” he hissed at her, pulling her mouth down to his, shoving his tongue as far in as it would go.

“I noticed, when you about killed us back there,” she signed into his mouth when he let her up for a breath. She pulled his bottom lip gently with her teeth. When she tasted the bit of iron in her mouth, she realized that she had nipped his lip. She sucked gently drinking of his life essence.

Klaus pulled in his breath at the feeling of Caroline imbibing of him. She did it because it heightened his pleasure, but she would never put his existence in jeopardy by consuming too much.

“I love you, baby,” he said to her as he groped at her clothes with no regard for who or what may come upon them on the lane.

“I love you, Klaus,” she whispered to him, “and I want you, right now.”

“I will gladly indulge in your wishes, love,” he murmured back to her.

They swiftly removed each other’s clothes, jackets and t-shirts tossed to the ground, chaps and jeans thrown on the completely isolated motorway.

She rode him, on top of the motorcycle, head thrown back and her cries of pleasure escaping her throat. Klaus clutched her small hips with his hands, guiding her rhythm and thrusting his own hips back up into her. He suckled her neck and her creamy globes, pulling her peaks into his mouth and twirling his tongue around the tips.

After her first climax, Klaus heaved Caroline from the bike into the soft grassy area next to the shoulder of the road, landing atop her. He pleasured her thoroughly and she reached her peak again quickly. He growled, his own head thrown back, when he reached his crest, with Caroline clawing his back as she reached her summit again underneath him, her body shuddering from the bliss.

They lay spent in each other’s arms in the warm sun with only the sound of the gentle breeze blowing through the trees.

“Best bike ride ever,” he whispered into Caroline’s ear.


	8. Impossible Loves

Elena was shocked when she found Jeremy watching The Borgia’s alone. She was shocked and surprised when he stated that he actually enjoyed it and she was thrilled when he said he wanted to watch it from the beginning with her.

He had held her hand when Giovanni Sforza raped Lucrezia for the first time and then consecutive times after that.

Jeremy rejoiced with her when Giovanni fell off the horse and broke his leg.

They were neither one impressed with Lucrezia’s lover and father of her son, Paolo, even though he was handsome.

They both agreed that the little side story was unnecessary and that the child was obviously that of Cesare’s, or that was how they would have written it. They were both surprised at how much their feelings regarding Cesare and Lucrezia's relationship mimicked the others.

And Jeremy seemed to enjoy the scenes with Cesare and Lucrezia the most, just as she did, at least for the third or fourth time, or even for the twelfth time.

And then when their story ended, again, Jeremy held her as she cried. She sobbed as if her lover was dying in her arms, and she was not thinking of or referring to Damon or anyone else she had had as a lover in her lifetime.

She held onto Jeremy as if he were Cesare and she were Lucrezia.

He was becoming her Cesare, the dark and handsome man she had dreamed about. She had often had dreams about a romance like Cesare and Lucrezia's, but she thought herself a realist and assumed that a love like that did not exist. Not when things had gone so wrong for her in her short life. But now, things were changing and she and Jeremy only had each other, and they were close and growing closer.

When she dreamed, she dreamt of him, her Cesare. And now she dreamed his face. Jeremy’s face.

Always Jeremy in her dreams now.


	9. Siblings

It was odd that a television series that had a little side story of an incestual relationship made them realize their feelings for one another, but it did. It had awakened something in them, something that they had both suppressed most of their lives. Jeremy was the first to recognize it; Elena was a close second.

Each realized that their desire for the other was strong and growing stronger every day. Not just the dreams that they had had for years now, since their own sexual awakening as teens, but the day dreams, the real life dreams that were in their face each time they were together.

It was Jeremy that acted upon them first. They were going to bed at the same time, after having sought out a movie they would both like and not really finding anything worthy, worthy like The Borgia’s. So they had watched a few episodes of the series again before deciding that they were too tired to continue and Jeremy had to get up early the next morning anyway. He was now attending Whitmore College as well, just because he wanted something to do, something that he could have in his pocket as a career and take with him if he ever left Mystic Falls. But he would never leave without Elena, not now.

They each had their own bathrooms now, unlike the home they had grown up in where they had a communal bathroom between their bedrooms, but their bedrooms were still across from each other’s and they always told each other good night, regardless of what the day had held between them.

Tonight, when they reached the top of the stairs, going up hand in hand as they had done for the past couple of nights without much notice or attention drawn to it, Jeremy kept hold of Elena’s hand when they reached her door, which was directly across from Jeremy’s – hers on the left, his on the right.

Elena looked down at his hand holding hers and looked at Jeremy with a furrow in her brow.

“Is something wrong, Jer?” she asked him.

“No, nothing’s wrong, Elena. I just don’t want to let go tonight,” he said to her.

Elena smiled up at him and brushed a quick kiss on his cheek, as she did most nights for the past few months when they said their good nights.

“I will see you in the morning, before you leave for class. Do you want eggs and bacon again?” Elena asked the man who still had not let go of her hand.

“That sounds great. Thanks, Elena, you take good care of me and I appreciate it,” Jeremy said to her, leaning over to kiss her cheek. He placed a soft kiss there and hovered.

Elena turned and looked at him, straight into his brown eyes as he hovered inches from her face.

“Can I?” he said to her.

“Can you what?” Elena asked.

Jeremy leaned towards Elena’s face again, this time staring straight into her eyes. When Jeremy’s lips brushed over hers, she gasped a little and jumped slightly. Jeremy still held her hand and pulled it closer to his body, pulling her in with it.

“I’m sorry. I won’t do it again if you don’t want me to,” Jeremy said to her lips, still inches from her, breathing his hot breath on her.

Elena’s eyes closed and she said to him “I’m just scared. Isn’t this wrong?”

“What makes it wrong?” Jeremy asked her, “Cesare and Lucrezia were lovers and they were also sister and brother. You and I are not sister and brother.”

“But we are cousins, and what would everyone think of us” she breathed heavily on his face, speaking with her lips merely centimeters from his.

“You are my Lucrezia,” he said to her, “damn the rest of the world and what they might think.”

And with that declaration, their lips were crushed upon each other, tongues mingling in each other’s mouths, hands lingering in each other’s hair and sides of faces and necks.

When they parted, nearly out of breath, they stared at one another with foreheads pushed together.

“You are my Lucrezia,” he said to her again. “And I want to be your Cesare. I want to have a love like theirs, a love like that with you, Elena.”

She pulled him back in for another kiss, mouths open and tongues clashing together, teeth nipping lightly, their breath heavy and panting. His hands stroked up and down Elena’s back, rubbing her gently with fingers splayed on both hands, pulling her tight into his chest. He could feel her breasts against him and sighed into her mouth then moved his kisses to her face.

He kissed along the side of her mouth while she sought his mouth again like a baby bird looking for its mother. He kissed her nose and her eye lids with the beautiful thick and heavy eyelashes. He kissed her temples and her forehead and back down her cheek to her jaw line. She sighed heavily in his arms and ran her hands along his back and up to his neck holding his head where she thought it felt the best. When he reached her ear, he caressed it with his tongue and lightly nipped her ear lobe and she nearly fell into his arms when he kissed and licked behind her ear.

“Oh,” she whispered.

“You like it there,” Jeremy whispered back as he did it again and again feeling her melt into his arms.

“Oh, yes, I do,” she gasped.

He switched to the other ear to see if it elicited the same response and it most certainly did, even bigger. Jeremy basically had all of Elena’s weight, which was basically nothing to him, as she had a tiny frame, and he held her in his own muscular and powerful arms. She dissolved into him as he lavished attention on her face, lips, jaw line, neck and especially her ears. He knew he could hold her upright forever, but he realized that Elena’s knees were trembling slightly, so he spun her around and pushed her gently into the wall behind her. There he was able to focus more on his tongue and lip work over this gorgeous creature, his Lucrezia, his Elena.

She sighed, moaned, and gasped as he lavished her with his attention. When he reached the hollow of her neck, right between her collar bones, he looked back up at her and stared for a moment. She had a soft blush on her face, almost a glow and he kissed her rosy lips again, this time easy and gentle, a loving passionate kiss, not a hot and I need you now kiss like before. She held onto his shoulders and his neck.

When he placed his forehead against hers, she finally opened her eyes. He could tell she was smiling before he could even see her mouth. She was smiling with her eyes as well.

“Do you want me to stop?” he asked her then.

“Never. I never want you to stop,” Elena professed.

He kissed her again, this time loving and gentle, caressing her lips with his, gentle flicks of tongues, holding the small of her back tight to him. He made certain not to touch her with the bulge that was throbbing beneath his jeans, because if he felt her through that part of his body, he would never be able to stop. When their kiss parted, she pulled his head to his shoulder and began to cry quietly.

Jeremy sensed it immediately and became alarmed, asked her “What’s wrong, Elena?”

“Nothing. Nothing for once is wrong,” she said to her Cesare. “Will you let me sleep in your bed with you tonight and just hold me, like Cesare would hold Lucrezia all those nights? Loving me and holding me close.”

“It would be my sheer honor and pleasure to hold you as you slept tonight, my love.”

And they kissed, one last loving kiss, lips closed but soft and gentle against one another. When they parted, Elena went to her room, holding onto Jeremy’s hand as far as she could stretch it telling him she would be right back. She changed into her sleep shirt, which was a tank top, and a pair of sleeping shorts, brushed her teeth as quickly and thoroughly as possible, washed her face and brushed her hair.

When she emerged from her room, Jeremy was still standing in the hall, back against the wall he had been pressing her against, one leg propped up and his arms crossed. When he saw Elena, he reached out for her with both arms and she willing went to him. He enveloped her in his powerful arms, smelling her hair and fresh scents. She wrapped her arms around him pulling him tight to her and smiled to herself, feeling comfort that she had never felt before. A familiarity that was not just because this was someone she had known most of her life, but because of the undeniable fit the two of them had. She fit perfectly under his chin and he rested his head on the top of hers. She kissed into his shirt-clad chest as she pulled away slightly.

“Let’s go to bed,” Elena said to Jeremy.

“Yes, let’s. After you, my lady Lucrezia,” he said back to her.

Elena giggled and said “Come then, Cesare, my brother. Hold me throughout the night in your strong loving arms and keep those horrid nightmares away. We shall awake in each other’s arms in the morn.”

Jeremy smiled broadly at her, that smile that encompasses his entire face, even his eyes.

He led her into his room, pushed some dirty clothes into the hamper and threw some others from the bed across the room. His room was actually pretty tidy for a young man, but he felt that it was a pig sty and was almost embarrassed to have Elena in there, spending her first night with him.

He had at least made his bed up, so he turned down the covers, fluffed the pillows on the right side of the bed for her and patted the mattress inviting her to sit down. She accepted the invitation and folded herself into his bed and under the covers. Jeremy made quick order of changing his own clothes, basically just stripping down to his black boxer briefs, brushed his own teeth, and climbed into his bed next to Elena.

She rolled over and put her arms around him and he responded in kind, pulling her close. He kissed her on the forehead and then the top of the head. She kissed his neck and then his shoulder, but she stopped there. She had the gumption to keep going with her kisses, but she stopped. _There will be time enough for that_ she thought to herself. She wanted Jeremy to take the lead anyways.

“Good night, Elena,” Jeremy whispered into the dark.

“Good night, my Jeremy,” Elena quietly responded.

Both of their hearts leapt, at what had happened, at what was currently happening, and what the future might hold for them. And they slept holding each other the entire night.


	10. Black Rom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonnie needs to make the pain disappear, and she uses Damon to help make it go away.

“I’m tired of the secret, witchy crap, Bonnie,” Damon told her.

Bonnie was standing about 20 feet away from Damon talking with her Gram. Gram had given Bonnie some news that she hadn’t really expected and she was certainly not revealing it to Damon at this moment.

“Damon, if you want to hear us talk about potions, spells and grimoires, come over here,” Bonnie said to the vampire, knowing full well that he did not want to hear about that, and he certainly didn’t want to hear about this – at least not yet.

Gram said her goodbye’s and disappeared, or disapparated, or whatever it was that she did. Bonnie walked back over to where Damon sat, back against a tomb stone, Vicki Donovan’s head stone to be exact, and towered over him.

“You are in a great mood today, Damon,” Bonnie said to him.

Damon was picking at the sticks and dead leaves on the ground. There was absolutely nothing else to do – no booze, no one else to talk to other than the cute little witch that stood over him, no Elena, no Stefan, no blood. He didn’t need blood here though. He hadn’t craved it or even had a way to get it other than from Bonnie and the only time he had tasted her blood was when they, when he had forced, he didn’t like it then anyways. There was no flavor and no need apparently.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Bon Bon, does my mood not suit you today?” he said nastily to her through gritted teeth.

“No, Damon, your mood never suits me,” she said and stormed off.

He stood up and followed after her, grabbed her by her upper arm. “Stop, Bonnie, I’m sorry,” he said to her.

“I just hate it here, I hate that we are stuck and that we cannot get back and that we are dead or not dead or in limbo or whatever it is,” he shared with her.

“I don’t like it either, Damon, and after what Gram just told me,” she trailed off.

“What did she just tell you?” Damon asked, furrowing his brow at her, his blue eyes piercing hers yet again.

“It was just witchy stuff, as you call it,” she lied, “you wouldn’t get it.”

“Oh, now I wouldn’t get it,” he sighed and walked away in a huff.

This time she chased after him, grabbing his leather clad biceps and he stopped.

“I’m sorry, I just don’t think, I shouldn’t, if you really want to know,” she sighed heavily.

“No. No, I don’t want to know, Bonnie,” he said back to her, “I am bored and this graveyard SUCKS and the only thing to read is these damn headstones which I think I have memorized the location of every one. Maybe for fun you can test me later and see if I can score one hundred percent on the location of all of Mystic Falls dead,” he said sarcastically to her.

Bonnie rolled her eyes at him and turned away again. _How am I going to tell him what Gram just told me? He will never be ok with this. I don’t even know if I am ok with it, but what can I do. It won’t change anything_ she thought to herself.

“Damon, I could really use a hug, and even though we loathe each other and the thought of … ugh, just thinking about it makes me shiver, will you give me a hug?” she pleaded with him.

The vampire sighed and decided rather quickly that he would indulge in her need for physical touch and gathered her into his arms. As he held her, he thought about how she fit in his arms, because he didn’t want to think about how much he missed Elena. Too late, he already was, so he compared himself to her. 

Bonnie was small, a petite girl in almost every way. Her waist was small and he mused that he could easily put his hands around them and almost have his fingertips touch, but he had big hands. Her feet were tiny, couldn’t be more than a size 4 or 5, and he had large feet, size 13’s. Her arms were petite, but fit, same for her legs, and her muscles were well defined and sculpted for a girls. His arms were muscular like a man’s should be, his legs as well, like soccer players legs Elena had told him. Damnit! Bonnie’s skin was soft and smooth, hardly any hair and a luscious chestnut color. His skin was probably rough, he thought, and hairy, and his skin was white, whiter in some areas than others, areas that didn’t get much sun, but he never really tanned well anyways. Bonnie sure did, she even had tan lines. He had noticed them when he was between her legs when they … _no, that was wrong_ , he thought to himself.

The fact that she even allowed him to touch her after that day was a miracle in and of itself. But Bonnie had acted like nothing had happened, as if there had been no sex, forced or not forced, just as if it had never happened. And now, she was holding onto him and smelling his scent. He could hear her inhaling and could feel her fingertips pulling him in tighter.

“Are you ok, Bonnie,” he whispered into her hair.

“Yeah, I’m ok, I just needed a hug,” she said to him.

She started to break their hold, but he held on. It felt good to hold someone, even if it wasn’t, nope, not going to think about her. It was nice to hold a warm, fit, body with those soft mounds pushing into his chest feeling his jeans begin to get tight in the crotch area.

“Ok, yeah, that was nice,” he said finally breaking their embrace.

 _What the hell is wrong with me?_ Damon thought to himself.

Damon walked away from her, told her he was going to go find more of that fern that she wanted to use and would be back, eventually. He walked the perimeter that they could walk and picked some of the plant only when he had had enough of the self-imposed solitary confinement and made his way back to the cemetery itself.

They could walk a few miles in each direction, but never past a specific spot. It wasn’t as if they would hit a wall, an invisible barrier of any kind, they just couldn’t go any further in a 360 degree perimeter. The woods of Mystic Falls and the cemetery. Was that where they were destined to spend eternity.

When Damon got back, he could hear Bonnie crying as he approached. He picked up his walking pace and at a near run, made it to her inside the tomb where she kept her grimoires and other witchy items.

“What’s wrong?” Damon asked her almost in a panic.

Bonnie immediately wiped the tears from her eyes. “Nothing!” she shouted at him.

“Uh, ok, well don’t yell at me about it. It’s not like I forgot to take the trash out or something,” Damon quipped.

“Fuck off, Damon,” she said to him.

“Here we go again,” he said out loud. “When and where, Bon Bon?”

“Just shut up, Damon,” she said to him through her teeth.

“Damn girl, do we just need to skip the argument and get straight to the sex?” he said to her.

Bonnie dropped the bowl and herbs she had in her hands and pounced on Damon, ripping at his hair as she sought his mouth with hers. He let her find it this time, not denying her and shoving his tongue back into her mouth as she shoved hers into his. They commenced at attempting to literally rip each other’s clothes off. Damon was more successful at the ripping, Bonnie just pulled and tugged, but Damon helped her remove his clothes until they were stark naked, mauling each other with their hands and mouths in the middle of the cemetery.

She knelt before him and pulled his manhood into her mouth, teeth and tongue sliding over the shaft and Damon sucked hard on the air.

“UGH, Bonnie, careful there,” he panted and held onto her hair.

He had no idea she could be as aggressive as she was being, but damn if it didn’t kind of like it. Angry sex was angry sex and the more teeth the better he mused.

She bobbed and sucked and then held her head still and let him face fuck her, sliding his rod in and out of her wet mouth, her little, pink lips pursed into an O. She looked up at him and watched him nearly climax before he stopped himself. She tried to continue the movement, grasped his balls, but he removed himself from her mouth and knelt down on the ground with her.

“Bonnie,” he said.

“Shut up, Damon, and just fuck me,” she said to him.

And he did. He screwed her on the ground in the dirt with rocks digging into her back and buttocks.

They did it with her sitting on top of a headstone, legs wrapped around his hips, head thrown back, him biting her coffee colored mountains and pounding into her as she screamed his name and expletives as she came hard the first three times.

“Harder!” she screamed, “HARDER!”

They fucked with him lying on his back on a raised tomb, her riding him backwards and him raising his pelvis to meet her downward thrusts hammering her hard onto his pole. She screamed and cried and shouted swear words as she peaked each time. She dug her nails into his thighs as she held onto him.

He pounded into her wet tunnel as she bent over Tyler Lockwood’s dad’s gravestone, him holding one of her breasts with one hand and the other slid down between her legs massaging her little pill box.

When he finally mounted her, he even allowed her to bite him, nearly drawing blood but not quite, just the pain was there, but it heightened his pleasure.  He finally looked into her face. She had been crying and she had a tear stained face, but her eyes were closed and she was no longer crying. She moaned for him, for Damon, for him to not stop, please don’t stop, just make it go away.

“Make what go away?” he said to her, whispering in her ear, rocking his hips gently, easing in and out of her, the pleasure of her tight silkiness too much to stop.

“Make the pain go away,” she said. Bonnie opened her eyes and looked at him, her eyes like deep dark pools stared into him, and he saw the pain and grief. He kissed her cheek and continued to plunge into her, pulling out of her moist hole and back in again trying to bring her the pleasure she had screamed for earlier.

“Don’t stop,” she panted, “please, don’t stop, make me come again.”

He quickened his pace, as fast as his hips would move and brought her to ecstasy again and he joined her, falling over the hill and letting the pleasure ripple through his body. It was not the best sex he had ever had by any means, but it was a release and she had wanted it, begged him for it.

He rolled off of her and laid beside her for a moment as they each caught their breath. He was spent and she had pulled deep inside of herself. She rolled away from him on the hard concrete floor of the mausoleum and curled herself into a ball. She just lay there, neither talking or crying, just lay there. And he let her be.

He went back outside to gather their clothes. It was peculiar that their clothes were always in a state of just washed freshness after they removed them the first time and then went back for them. Same as they never had to brush their teeth, or eat, or use the bathroom, take a bath, it was always just a perpetual state of being fresh and your best.

He found Bonnie’s clothes, which he had ripped to shreds a few hours ago, but they were just as they should be, fresh and clean and whole. He brought them to her and she sat up. He helped her get redressed and she folded her body into his arms.

And he held her, quiet, no talking. Bonnie did not say one word for hours. And that worried Damon.


	11. Growing Pains

When Elena returned from the lawyer’s office the next day, she flew through the front door almost bubbling over to tell Jeremy what she had found out.

“Jer? Are you home?” she shouted as soon as she opened the solid mahogany front door of their home.

Silence met her, so she assumed he was not home. Such good news, and it would just have to wait until her Cesare arrived home as well.

Elena went about her normal routine of selecting a bountiful menu for their dinner (of course hers would consist of blood) and started the preparations. Jeremy ate like a horse and she wanted to make sure that he ate healthy and nutritious foods.

Nearly an hour passed before Jeremy came in the same door that Elena has passed through.

“Elena? I’m home,” Jeremy shouted from inside the front door.

She rounded the wall that separated their large living area and ran into his arms.

“Jer,” she sighed into his shoulder as she hugged him tight.

“Here I am,” he said to her, knowing that she felt just as whole as he did now that they were in each other’s company.

“Are we really doing this?” he asked her then.

It had only been the previous night that they had kissed for the first time and fallen asleep in each other’s arms.

“Yeah, we are,” Elena replied, parting her body slightly from his and kissed his lips with hers.


	12. Back to His Old Ways

Stefan was working on an old Volvo when he saw a pair of women’s legs standing next to the car. They were nicely shaped, not skinny like chicken legs and the calves had just the right amount of muscle. He slid himself out from under the car and found Lily standing over him, two brown paper grocery bags in her hands and a smile on her face. He could almost see up the tweed pencil skirt that she was wearing, but it was so tightly fitting, all he could really get a glimpse of was dark. He knew what lay up there in that dark promising region where her femoral artery resided. He could hear her pulse bounding there. _Shit, don't go there_ he thought to himself.

“Hi,” he said in a surprised tone trying to pull himself back from the ripper edge looking up into Lily’s face.

“Dinner. Tonight. My house,” she said to him.

He readily accepted. He needed something to do, something different. Going to her house was different, he rarely went there. They usually hung at his apartment and she sometimes spent the night, but always left early in the morning. Tonight, it would be a date. He might sleep with her, but he would definitely leave before morning, unlike her.

After work, he went home, showered, then drove to Lily's place. He knocked on her door and she called for him to come in. She was standing in her small kitchen, apron around her waist, dishes set out on her table. She had changed into a simple eyelet white dress that brought out the golden tones in her skin and her black hair was stark contrast against it. Stefan crossed the rooms and gave her a small peck on the cheek. She smelled good, he thought to himself.

And she fixed a spread fit for a king, however Stefan wouldn’t eat one single bite of it. He would instead want to eat every single bite of Lily. He pushed the food around on his plate while he distracted her with talk, trying to distract himself as well. He had sucked down a bag of blood before he left for her home, but it had not satisfied his hunger.

She put on some slow music, the songs that he used to listen to in the 50’s. She wouldn’t know that, and even if he tried to tell her, confess to being a vampire again, she would probably laugh it off. She would probably never believe him anyway. Even though he did not want to be who or what he was any more, he did not want to forget it completely and when he had opened up to her finally, she shot him down and that hurt.

They danced, swaying in each other’s arms. Lily felt like she was in heaven. She was so in love with Stefan and she felt like he might finally be opening up to her and falling as well. But all Stefan could think about was the pulsing veins in her neck and how he was not going to bite her. He felt his veins protruding from around his eyes and he was sure that his eyeballs were blood shot. He was losing control and he needed to stop it and fast. To distract himself, he started humming the tune. Then her heart began to race and the pulse was bounding out of her neck. His composure was gone at that point.

He kissed her neck, inhaled her scent, the scent of her life blood. No longer able to hold back, he sunk his teeth into her neck and drew her blood into his mouth. He savored the flavor, a metallic mixture of copper and iron. It was so delicious that he continued to drink from her. Lily sighed and moaned at first, thinking that Stefan was nipping her neck with seduction on his mind, feeling the pleasure of his mouth on her flesh. Then it began to hurt, and he bit again, his teeth plunging into her tissue.

Lily screeched at the pain, and Stefan tilted her back, almost as if he was dipping her while they danced a waltz. All of her blood rushed to her head and he had done that subconsciously slipping back into his old habits. She fought him, clutching at his shoulders, tearing at his shirt. If someone were to see them, they would think that he was pleasuring her the way she moaned and cried and the way she was pulling at his clothes.

When she quit struggling and began to go limp in Stefan’s arms, he nearly finished her right there. But something snapped bringing him back to exactly what he was doing and who he was doing it to. Battling what had become his new instincts, he quit imbibing on her life force. He gingerly placed her on one of her winged back dining room chairs and stood over her, just looking at her. Her head was drooping forward, her long black hair spilling around her face. Her skin was white, paler than it usually was. He was afraid that he had done her in.

 _If she is dead, I’m fucked_ he thought to himself.

Then she stirred just slightly, her right hand jumping slightly from her slack wrist.

 _Good, good, come on Lily, that’s right_ he thought again trying to wish her back to the land of the living.

She roused more, and lifted her head. Lily stared at Stefan, his face completely different than she had ever seen before. And she screamed, fear overcoming her completely as she stared at the vampire standing over her and the looking down to see blood soaking her white dress.

Stefan put his hand over her mouth and she stilled, scared stiff from fear. He compelled her to forget that he had snacked on her, drank of her and guzzled her blood. He stared into her eyes, his pupils dilating slightly, telling her to forget what had just happened, to remember that they had dinner, danced, and he had kissed her goodnight then she went to sleep, happy. Then he changed her clothes, placed her in her pajamas that she had laid out on her bed and then tucked her into her own bed.

She would not remember any of this, he had made sure of it. He took her blood stained dress with him and would just burn it at his apartment in the fireplace.

Stefan was devastated with his own actions. Sad that he had fallen over the edge and he vowed he was not going to go back. He went home and drank. He drank whatever was there, whiskey, bourbon, vodka, he drank it – all. It helped to dull the pain and the desire to eat, to rip out someone’s neck veins, to suck their blood out of the jugular like it was a straw sticking out of a five liter bag of blood. He wished he could talk to Damon, confide in him what he had done, the fight he was fighting. It was like he was an alcoholic that had fallen off the wagon, but he was a vampire that had ripper instincts. He had to turn them off again – could not lose sight of his own humanity – not again.

If only Damon were here.


	13. Letting Go

“It’s been over a year, Damon,” Bonnie said.

“No, it has only been a few months, max,” Damon said to her, running his hands over his forehead and through his hair.

“It’s been 18 months, Damon, since we died, or whatever this is,” Bonnie explained to the leather clad vampire. “I know that it doesn’t feel like it, but look, I have kept count. Gram told me to. She told me that time would go fast and we would have no concept of how fast it was going.”

Bonnie led Damon to an area on the big stone tomb where she had been marking the days. Damon stood there and counted. There were 550 marks. He did the calculations in his head. She was right, just over 18 months.

“What the hell?” he said, more to himself than to Bonnie, but it was said out loud regardless.

“I know. It’s confusing and disorienting.”

Damon sat down hard on the solid ground outside of the tomb. He just stared at the wall with the small slash marks that Bonnie had made. He tried to remember yesterday and the day before, but because they did the same thing every day, it was all a blur. He did, however, remember having sex with her a few days ago though. Or was it a few days ago? He wasn’t going to ask her. She might hit him again and he knew where that would lead.

“Ok, Bonnie, I think you have some explaining to do,” Damon said to the witch.

“You’re right, I do. So brace yourself, it’s some witchy talk and you are going to have to understand it. I don’t think you are going to like it much.”

Damon put his head in his hands and rubbed his face again. He felt dizzy, disoriented, and he was sure that what Bonnie had to tell him would be witch mumbo-jumbo.

“Gram came to me after we were here for a week,” Bonnie said to him.

“No, she was here the first day we were,” Damon corrected her.

“Nope, it had been a week. Gram showed me in her tea cup, she reads tea leaves you know.”

“Ok ok, so it was a week, fine, go on” Damon said to her, waving his hand in a circular motion.

“She has shown me other things too, Damon, things you are not going to like, but it is time for you to know,” Bonnie said, sitting down on the dirt next to him, putting her hand on his knee.

“She told me to make a mark for every time I felt like I missed Jeremy more than anything. She said that marked one human day. She said that when one is in the state that we are in, in limbo, emotions are heightened but grief would only come in waves. They come only once a day, those feelings of grief, almost like it is a protection measure for spirits, or whatever we are. “

“How does your Gram Gram know that, Bonnie?” Damon asked her in a slightly sarcastic tone.

“Gram has been in this state for a lot longer than we have, Damon,” Bonnie explained, “you remember that don’t you?”

“Yeah, she died a few years back, right?” he asked her, screwing up his face, questioning his own sense of time now.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Bonnie said to him, rubbing his knee a little out of compassion.

“So, what else? Are we stuck here forever?” he asked her.

“No, and we will be transitioning on soon, my Gram has told me. There is only one thing that we need to do, only one thing to finish.”

Damon looked at her then, bringing his head up from his hands and looking at her.

“What?” he asked, his voice shaking slightly.

“We have to say goodbye,” she told him.


	14. Devastation

Damon just looked at her, tried to stare deep into her soul to get her meaning. He got it, fine, they had been in limbo, stuck in this fucking cemetery a lot longer than he had thought, longer than his mind was able to keep track of, but when Bonnie told him that they had been there 18 months, he had a very difficult time grasping the concept.

And he was pissed. He was mad at Bonnie for not telling him sooner that time was moving at a much faster rate than he was able to keep up with. He was angry with her for what she knew, what she had been able to keep track of and the fact that he had not been able to do so. He was angry at his own self for not knowing that he didn’t know. He should have known.

“You are holding back, Bonnie,” he told her.

“Yes, there is another thing I need to tell you,” Bonnie said, lowering her eyes to the ground and dropping her head so all he could see was her course dark hair.

“No more games, Bonnie, just spit it out,” he told her, wringing his hands together. He wanted to wring her neck and if he did that, he wouldn’t hear the rest at least for a while. He didn’t really know if she would die. _How can you die when you are already dead?_

“It’s about Elena,” she had said to him.

“What fucking about Elena,” he spat back at her.

“Well, it’s about Elena AND Jeremy,” she tried again.

“Just tell me Bonnie, quit dragging it out,” he pleaded with her.

She put her hands on his shoulders as she kneeled in front of him. She wanted him to look at her, understand what she was saying, but at the same time, she was afraid that he was going to lash out. That it would be her fault what Elena and Jeremy were, what they were doing.

“They aren’t brother and sister, Damon,” she tried to explain.

“I FUCKING KNOW THAT!” he shouted at her, twisting his lips into his smirky “your stupid” smile.

Bonnie decided that she should stand after his outburst, and he stood up with her. He was a little wobbly on his feet, and Gram had said that it might start happening to both of them, as time came for them to move on to the next phase.

“Damon, please, just listen to me, let me explain.”

He looked at her, his ice blue eyes trying to burrow holes in her face, his forehead heavily wrinkled from his anger and concern. Damon’s shock of black hair was not perfectly in place as it usually was. Today it was spiked all over, very disheveled. Bonnie was worried about him, especially how he would react to this, but she was ready, too. Her Gram told her what she might expect, the emotions that could come pouring through, or the total lack of emotion. That would be the hardest she thought.

“Go on, Bonnie, just tell me,” he said, lowering his voice to where it was barely audible.

He was weary, tired of what was happening and what wasn’t happening. He just wanted to be with Elena again, see her, love her, and make love to her.

“Ok, again, they are not brother and sister. Listen, to me,” as he started to walk away, “and they are not cousins either.”

“So?” he raised his voice again slightly. Bonnie winced at his reaction.

“Well, Damon, you see, um. Elena and Jeremy have moved on with their lives. They tried to get us back, but when they realized that it wasn’t going to happen, and it isn’t going to happen, they moved on.”

“Ok, so they aren’t grieving for us anymore and not trying to get us back. Fucking great.”

“It’s not just that, they have moved on, with each other.”

“They have always been close, big deal. What’s the big deal about Elena and Jeremy moving on with each other …… ohfuckmylife,” Damon said as he realized what Bonnie was telling him. He ran his hand through his hair again, leaving it even more disheveled than before.

“Elena and Jeremy are together?”

“Yes, Damon, they are together, and they are in love.”

“Oh FUCK my LIFE!” Damon shouted into the air. “What the hell?! I need to get back Bonnie, I need to shake some sense into Elena. For Pete’s sake, he is her kid brother!”

“No, Damon, they are not related, not at all.”

“Well, to me they are!”

“You and some of Mystic Falls feel that way, but I think it is ok,” she said to him.

He whipped around doing a total 180 from where he had stood with his back to her.

“You are FUCKING kidding me!” he shouted at her, “You love Jeremy!”

“I loved Jeremy, I will always love Jeremy, but I cannot be with Jeremy anymore and he is happy. I want him to be happy and Elena makes him happy.”

“Elena apparently makes _everyone_ happy,” he said dripping with sarcasm and turning his back on Bonnie once again.

“Damon, come on,” she pleaded with him, trying to get his better senses to come through. She had had more time to get used to the idea, was pretty devastated when Gram had first shown her how close Jeremy and Elena were growing, and then, then when she saw them kiss and hold onto one another and realize the depth of their love for one another, Bonnie was pissed. She was so pissed she had initiated the anger sex with Damon that time. He hadn’t resisted as she had the first time, and she just needed a release and that was the best pay back she could think of, having sex with Damon Salvatore. Not that Elena would ever know, but it was the only thing she could do at the time.

“I’m not ok with this, Bonnie, and I seriously don’t get why you are ok with little Gilbert fucking his sister!”

“They are not _fucking_ as you put it, Damon, but they are in love, so I am sure that it will come sooner or later,” Bonnie explained to him.

“Oh great, little Gilbert fucking Elena. That’s got to be a sight that everyone would want to see,” he spouted.

“Have you seen them?” he asked her, turning his head just slightly, looking over his shoulder, wondering exactly how much she knew and what she had seen.

“Yes, I have seen them. Gram has let me see them, and they are good together, happy.”

“I don’t fucking care if they are happy!” Damon said. He was furious. Furious with himself for not getting back from the other side so he could be Elena’s happily ever after. Furious with Elena for being with her brother!

“WHAT THE HELL? Fuck me, this is hell, isn’t it?” he said. Bonnie approached him from behind as he knelt down, clasping his knees with his arms, head down and all she could see was his rounded back covered in leather. She rubbed his back and she walked around in front of him. He did not shrink from her, he did not move at all, until she put her hand on his head. Shivers ran through his body and he quaked just a bit. Bonnie was sure he was crying. She never imagined that he would cry. Break things, punch things, yell at her, run and scream, yes, but not cry, Damon Salvatore didn’t cry, did he?

Bonnie just stood there, let him work through it. When he lifted his head and sat up in a crouched position with his chin in his hands and his elbows on his knees, he looked at her. His eyes were blood shot and his cheeks were tear stained.

“I love her, Bonnie,” he told the witch.

“I know, Damon, I know,” she said soothingly.

“I really am dead, aren’t I, aren’t we?”

“Yes, we are. But right now, we have each other and maybe we will have more of our loved ones as soon as this transition is over,” she said to the vampire, the saddest vampire she had ever seen.

“I don’t care about anyone but Elena,” he sighed.

“It’s ok to grieve her, Damon, and I hope it gets easier for you,” she said, and she really meant it.

He stood finally, and she reached out for him. He willingly went into Bonnie’s arms and she held him as she would have held any of her friends that just found out that someone had passed away. For that was what it was like for Damon – Elena was gone, gone forever. She had accepted Damon’s death and moved on, moved on with Jeremy. Now Damon needed to grieve for her.

Damon sat back on the hard dirt after he peeled himself out of Bonnie’s arms. He was mad still, yes, but he was also sad. Saddened to the core. Twilight began to fall and cast shadows throughout the cemetery. The leaves on the trees were turning brown, or had they always been brown. There was an eerie light that had been in the distance since they arrived and at times it was brighter than others, but tonight, it was barely there, very dim. He had tried to find the source a few times, thought maybe the sun or maybe the moon, but he had never found anything. It always moved when he sought it out, farther away or off in the distance the other way from where he was traveling.

He was tired, weary, wanted to sleep and drink bourbon and drink blood. _Jeremy fucking Gilbert_ he thought to himself. And he wondered if it had always been there and he hadn’t seen it. Or maybe it was only there because Elena was broken, or Jeremy was a pervert. He wanted to smash his face in. Little Gilbert with his girl, his Elena. He started to get pissed again, so angry he was ready to peel his skin off, the angriest he had been in his life. He launched to his feet and began to pound the shit out of everything he could find. He kicked over headstones, many of them shattering into millions of tiny pieces of stone and flying everywhere. He hit trees splintering them in half. He ripped limbs off the large trees and hurled them through the forest taking out other trees as it went along like a bowling ball. He howled at the sky, if that was even what that was. And if there had been any humans around, he would have turned into a ripper himself, but he wouldn’t have been as nice as Stefan putting their heads back on once he was done. He would tear them to shreds after her sucked their life force out and he was sure that there would have been gore everywhere and dripping from him.

Bonnie stood back and watched him. She dared not interfere as she knew not what her outcome would be, probably her demise, but would she come back from that? She didn’t want to find out. His outburst lasted hours, much to her surprise. And when it was complete, he sought her out.

“Bonnie?” he called. She stepped out of the shadows of the tomb and held her arms out to him. He wrapped himself back into them and he sobbed, loudly this time. He sobbed and he wailed to the sky, calling Elena’s name and wondering out loud ‘why’. He sobbed in Bonnie’s arms until he was spent and fell heavily to the ground bringing Bonnie with him. He landed on her with his full body weight even though Bonnie had tried to keep herself upright with him. He looked down at her as she lay splayed underneath him. His cheeks were stained with dirt and tears.

Then he sought her mouth with his still covered in the moisture from his sorrow. She tried to turn away fighting with all her moral strength to not give in knowing that this was just another way to release his grief and anger and distress. She told him no and tried to push him away, but before she knew it, he had her pinned to the ground and was forcing his mouth on hers. He held her arms away from her body then brought his hands out to hers, holding her down with his weight and strength.

She struggled and fought hard against him, trying to push him off of her and he pushed back. He forced her body hard into the ground and when she turned her mouth away from his lips, he thrust his tongue into her ear and sucked on the lobe. He was being forceful but not hurtful she finally realized. She had done the same to him just the last time they had been together. She had been forceful but he had given in. Once she realized that it was nearly the same that she had done, she relinquished her fight.

Her mouth sought his hot lips and his wandering tongue. She let it slip between her lips and tickle her teeth. He let her arms go and her hands found his head and pulled him in tighter to her. She forced her own tongue into his mouth. She bunched his leather jacket into her hands, trying to tug it off and he shed it fast as a wink. She pulled his t-shirt over his head and he brought his hot mouth back down to her neck and bit. She let him. It didn’t hurt and it would heal. He only nipped her slightly and there was no blood to drink, not that he had any thirst as it was.

Damon ripped at Bonnie’s gauzy top literally pulling it off of her. He did not take the time to unfasten her bra, he just pulled on it with both hands and it snapped in the front and fell to the side exposing her chocolate globes. Damon lowered his head to one of the dark peaks and pulled her nipple into his mouth biting it between his front teeth. Bonnie gasped and bucked into him. Damon pulled at her shorts, tearing them instead of unzipping them and yanked them off of her. He did the same to her panties, leaving red marks behind where they had ripped.

His manhood was at full attention and sprang out of his jeans as he pulled them down along with his boxers. He forced his rod into her and slammed repeatedly into her pushing her through the dirt time and time again. He bit into her neck as she clawed at his back. She no longer fought him, instead she brought her hips up and matched his pace.

The two times previously, Damon had made sure that Bonnie came first, but this time, he didn’t care and rammed his cock into her wet tunnel over and over again creating as much friction as possible for himself and he burst at the seams very quickly. He forced himself so hard into her she felt that she would nearly split and her back ached, but the pain was mixed with pleasure and she found herself quickly being brought to ecstasy. He felt Bonnie’s silky walls spasm around him soon after and she came as well crying out in pleasure. He rolled off of her, forcefully pushing her away from him and slammed his fist into the ground.

He stood up and towered over her. He was completely bare and his cock still twitched holding its erect state completely. Bonnie took him in, the sight of the visually devastated vampire standing over her and she almost felt the need to cower before him.

“Are you going to ask me if I’m over Elena?” he questioned her looking down at her with his darkest look ever.

“No, that would be cruel, Damon. I wouldn’t do that,” she said to him, shaking her head and brushing away the tears from her own cheeks.

“Well, I’m not, I still love her, but I also hate her now, and don’t fucking tell me not to hate her,” he said ramming his fist into the tomb wall. The stone cracked and shuttered, but it did not budge like the headstones he had devastated.

Bonnie wrapped her arms around her own legs and sat there, naked in the dirt, grass and leaves and debris in her hair. Her back was scraped up from the hardness of the ground and the force in which Damon had rammed himself into her. He had to have scrapes on his own knees she was sure, but he hadn’t complained and she was sure he would not. Her back would heal, but her heart still hurt. It hurt for the loss of her still living loved ones, for Jeremy, and now it hurt for Damon and his loss.


	15. Bringing Out the Dead

She was standing in the hallway when she spotted him, upstairs, with that look in his eyes. She took the steps two at a time and reached him quickly. Fear coursed through her body, fear and the need to protect her only love.

"What’s wrong, Jeremy?" Elena asked him as she reached the top of the stairs and he turned and looked at her, with that sorrow filled, ruminating look of his.

"I can see her. I can see Bonnie," he said to her.

"What do you mean you can see her? You told me you couldn’t see ghosts any longer," Elena questioned Jeremy.

"She came to me today. She and Damon are gone, really gone, Elena. She came to tell me that," Jeremy replied to her.

"Gone? As in they really are dead?"

"Yeah, they are really gone. Bonnie’s gram made it so Bonnie could come and tell me so we would all know and be able to move on. Bonnie said it took longer for her to come through to me than they had thought it would take."

"Oh god, they are really gone? We can have some closure now?” Elena said, looking down at the floor, biting her bottom lip and biting back the tears.

"Yeah, Elena, we can have some closure. And there is one other thing …," Jeremy started to explain.

"What? I’m scared, that scares me, Jer," she said to her lover, snapping her head back up to look into his dark eyes.

"They know. Bonnie knows and has been watching. And she is ok with it, with us," Jeremy said to Elena.

"What?” Elena said to Jeremy, shaking her head in disbelief of what he was telling her.

“Really? No one else even knows yet, how did she … and she is ok with it? What about Damon? Is he ok with us, too?" She questioned.

"Damon isn’t here, babe. He is gone, as in departed, long vanished. Bonnie is just finishing things up here, but he isn’t here."

Elena sighed heavily and reached for Jeremy. He enveloped her in his arms, held her close, pulling her into him with his hand on the back of her head and the other on the small of her back. He still wore his ring even though it no longer worked. He wore it because it was part of his history, part of her history, and it reminded him of Elena every time he looked at it. He looked at it now, and thought of Damon’s ring, how Elena said she used to twist it on his finger and now she did the same to him, in a loving, endearing way.

Elena pulled him in tight to her as well, tears in her eyes, thinking of her once overwhelming grief for Damon, and her now current all-consuming love for the man she held. For Jeremy Gilbert.

Jeremy felt her distress and pulled her closer, burying his head in her hair, on the brink of tears himself.

 _You love each other, and there is no denying that. Hold each other tight every day, Jeremy. Know that life is not guaranteed or forever, even for vampires and vampire hunters,_ Bonnie said to Jeremy.

"She told us to love each other for the rest of our lives", Jeremy told Elena.

And they held each other at the top of the stairs in their home, knowing that the wheels had been set in motion for them to reveal their love to their friends.

And Bonnie disappeared, gone forevermore, leaving the lovers to enjoy the rest of their lives together.


	16. Ordinary People

“I don’t want to hide this anymore, Jeremy. I want everyone to know that we are together, that we love each other. And if they cannot accept it in this town, then I think we should move somewhere that no one knows us and we can live together there,” Elena explained to Jeremy one morning as they strolled through the woods around their property.

“I want to shout my love for you from the rooftops as well, my love,” Jeremy replied to her, “but what do you think that Tyler, Ric, Caroline, Sherriff Forbes are going to think? We were brother and sister for God’s sake, they still think of us like that.”

“But everyone in Mystic Falls knows we are not brother and sister, they know us as cousins now. If we explain to them what I found in the official documents of my heritage, maybe they will accept us,” Elena said.

She had found that her mother truly was Isobel Fleming, but that her father, John Gilbert was actually not a Gilbert after all. John Gilbert was really John Everett, brother to Carol Everett Lockwood, so Elena and Tyler were distant cousins and she and Jeremy were not related at all. John had been given up for adoption at birth and the Gilbert’s (Elena’s grandparents) had adopted him thinking they could have no children of their own. It was only a year later that Jeremy’s father, Grayson Gilbert, had been born (check to see if timeline is right here).

“Ok, so how are we going to tell them? Just invite them all over for dinner and announce it to them? “ _Hey, everyone, I would like your attention! Elena and I are not cousins and we are together now, so live with it or get out_ ” .. something like that?

“It isn’t far off of what I had played through in my own head, Jeremy,” Elena said to him, kissing his cheek. They both laughed. It would take some thought, but they were ready it seemed. Especially now that Bonnie had come to Jeremy to say her goodbyes and to tell them that she gave her blessing. Not that they really wanted or needed Bonnie’s blessing, but it certainly gave them both resolution and the momentum to be able to move on.

“I love you, Elena, and I want to be able to continue our lives together. I already know that I want to spend an eternity with you, in your arms and in your bed if you will have me,” Jeremy said to her, nuzzling into her neck.

“That’s what I want too, Jer, that’s definitely what I want,” Elena answered, “they will love us for who we are AND for who we love, or they will no longer be part of our family.”

And so they set to planning how they would tell their friends that they were together, in love and going to spend the rest of their lives together.


	17. Under Control

“No, Caroline, I did not turn off my humanity,” Stefan said into the phone.

 _Well, Stefan Salvatore, you best not have!_ was being shouted back into the phone at him from the other end.

Stefan got periodic calls from Caroline Forbes, and she was shouting at him and his lack of perceived caring about what happened to his brother or anyone else for that matter. They had all tried - every single person that loved or cared for Bonnie and Damon - to get them back, figure out where they were, or do something. They were dead ends, every single one of them.

“Yes, Caroline, I will be there,” Stefan said.

“No, Caroline, I do not want to stay for longer than necessary.”

“No, Caroline, I will not be bringing Lily. She will not even know I have left.”

“Yes, Caroline, I do even like her.”

“No, Caroline, I do not love her.”

Stefan removed the phone from his ear and held it out at arm’s length and he could still hear the woman shouting on the other end.

“No, Caroline, I did not turn off my humanity,” Stefan said to the phone being held two feet away from his mouth.

What Caroline did not know was that Elena and Jeremy had already reached out to him. They told Stefan about Jeremy’s visit from Bonnie and that she had told Jeremy that they were really gone and not just missing, but dead and not ever coming back dead.

But Stefan knew that there was more to the story. He could sense it in Elena’s words and the way she just quit telling him about what had happened and how suddenly Jeremy had the phone and picked up where Elena left off. His vampire liar senses were tingling. He knew something was up, but not that he really cared enough to find out, until Jeremy reached out to him again.

 _Stefan, I have something very important that I need to talk to you about,_ Jeremy had said to him. He had also explained that the Mystic Falls gang would be there, so he felt obligated to go, even before Caroline called and tried to guilt him into going. He had to check on the old boarding house as it was, and this was as good a time as any.

He started packing a bag to take with him to the airport. His flight left in three hours and the TriMet Max would take him right to the airport door. No reason to tell Lily at all. She was busy running her coffee shop and wouldn’t miss him until at least Sunday. Not that he would really miss her – he just needed someone’s physical presence every so often.

It was supposed to be him and Lexi in Oregon, having fun, living life.

He wished he could see Lexi again, that she had passed through when Bonnie was the anchor and come back with him. Instead, she had done something heroic, he was certain of that.

And if Damon was lost forever, Lexi would be lost forever to him as well.

He shut his apartment door behind him, wondering if he would ever even come back here.


	18. Because The Night

Caroline nearly threw her phone through her bedroom window. She had been talking to Stefan Salvatore, someone she considered one of her dearest friends. She was sure that he was spiraling down and was determined to stop it.

Stefan had been a ripper twice in his life. He had killed for pleasure and then torn the heads off of his victims once their bodies were completely devoid of blood. Guilt set in after he saw what he had done in his ripper trance and he placed the decapitated heads back on the bodies before he left the scene of his crime. It had been disgusting to Caroline then, and it still disgusted her to think about it.

“UGH! Sometimes I just want to throttle him!” Caroline shouted into the air.

“Caroline, darling, he will be ok. Stefan is still just grieving for Damon, just as I grieved and still grieve for my dead siblings,” Klaus said softly to her in hopes of calming her a bit.

Klaus was lounging in one of the high backed Queen Anne chairs in their bedroom reading a book entitled “Between the Lines”. Caroline had no idea what the book was about, but Klaus liked to read and would sometimes read to her when they were in bed at night. She loved to hear the smooth melodies of his voice and would listen until she either fell asleep or ravaged his body depending on what he was reading. She often wondered if he strategically picked specific excerpts from books or maybe he was strategically picking the books. She didn’t wonder that much, because it thrilled her to no end.

“Do you need me to go back to Mystic Falls with you, love?” Klaus asked his golden haired lover.

“No, I think I can handle whatever it is that Jeremy needs to tell us. I have a gut feeling about it anyways, and I already know that Bonnie and Damon aren’t coming back. I guess he just wants to tell us to our faces that it is really over, they are gone.”

“Come to me, my love,” Klaus said to her drawing her hither with the way he looked at her with his smoldering eyes, “let me read to you.”

He picked up another book from the small stack on the table next to the chair. So he read to her, a romantic part from a really old book that she had never heard of before. She sat between his knees on the floor with her back against the seat of the chair. He leaned forward and rested one hand on her shoulder and his head on her head. The intimate ways he always found to envelope her made her fall deeper and deeper in love with him with every passing moment.

_“I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle. As a child I was taught what was right, but I was not taught to correct my temper. I was given good principles, but left to follow them in pride and conceit. Unfortunately an only son (for many years an only child), I was spoilt by my parents, who, though good themselves (my father, particularly, all that was benevolent and amiable), allowed, encouraged, almost taught me to be selfish and overbearing; to care for none beyond my own family circle; to think meanly of all the rest of the world; to wish at least to think meanly of their sense and worth compared with my own. Such I was, from eight to eight and twenty; and such I might still have been but for you, dearest, loveliest Elizabeth! What do I not owe you! You taught me a lesson, hard indeed at first, but most advantageous. By you, I was properly humbled. I came to you without a doubt of my reception. You showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased.”_

"What book are you reading, Klaus?" Caroline asked him. She had seen the title, but didn't recall what it was.

"Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen," he replied.

"It seems rather melancholy to me," she said to him, kissing his hand that rested on her shoulder.

"It is, but it is ultimately about love. A lot of angst before they get to the love. Jane Austen is pretty famous for making it seem like her heroine will never get the love she is after and at the end, all is well and they live happily ever after, or so it seems," he told her.

"Do you feel that is what happened to us, my love," she asked him, turning around to face him, lacing her arms through the back of his legs, putting her chin on his knees.

"Hm, I guess I didn't consider that," he replied.

"Will you read something different to me?" she asked.

"Well, how about I recite something to you and see if it is more to your liking?" Klaus told Caroline.

"My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep. The more I give thee, the more I have, For both are infinite. A little William Shakespeare better for you, lass?"

She smiled at him and nodded giving him her agreement in his choice.

Klaus pushed her shoulders back away from him and stood up. He held his hand out for her and she gladly accepted. He helped her rise from the floor then led her to their Queen Anne style four poster bed. He flipped off most of the lights, save the one providing the romantic ambience that they sought each night. He seduced her with his mouth and she seduced him with her hands.

He did not speak to her as he removed her clothes, kissing and nuzzling her flesh, only let his moans and sighs let her know his state of arousal. She did not speak when she drew his manhood into her mouth and pleasured the man she loves. He finally spoke, whispering in her ear as he tasted the lobe.

"What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you," Klaus said to her, quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson as he thrust his manhood into her fleshy folds.

They pleasured each other for a long while, never reaching the point where they felt the desire to stop. The desire to continue was all they felt, and continue they did, pleasuring each other's bodies over and over again, her shrieking when she would climax, him growling along with her as he felt himself grow inside of her with each shriek of delight.

When he finally reached his peak and let himself fall over into the abyss of pleasure, he spoke to her again.

"Life is a flower of which love is the honey, Victor Hugo said once," he told her, breathing heavily as he lay on top of her. "He must have been licking his lovers honey pot when he thought of that one," he laughed.

Caroline smacked his buttocks lightly for that quote.

"I doubt it!" she said, "but I have loved all of the ones that you have said to me tonight."

"Which one was your favorite?" he asked her, "Wait! I have one more, then you can tell me," softly murmuring his words into her ear.

"Grow old with me! The best is yet to be," Klaus said, quoting Robert Browning.

He brushed his cheek against hers, making sure he had her attention. She sighed, happy in his arms. He braced himself up off of her slightly with his muscular arms. He said it again to Caroline.

"Caroline, grow old with me. The best is yet to be,"

She thought she knew what he was saying but could she really believe that he would ask her that, right now, ask her to marry him?

"Are you asking me to marry you, Klaus," she whispered.

"Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity," quoting Henry Vandyke, "marry me, Caroline."

"Yes, yes, oh yes, I will marry you, Klaus," she said to him, planting kisses over his face and finally landing on his lips.

"That was my favorite quote, THAT one," she said as she held him tight.

There, he would have his Caroline forever now. _Mine, my lover, my wife, the mother of my child_ , he thought. But what Klaus didn't know is that he was more right in that thought that he had surmised.


	19. Unpleasantville

Stefan had been invited along with Matt, Tyler, Liv, Caroline and Alaric and who knows who else to the Gilbert cabin. Jeremy Gilbert had something vitally important to tell them, or so Jeremy had said.

Once he was in Mystic Falls, the empty feeling that accompanied his brother’s death rushed back and made him want to go ripper again. Stefan knew then that he would never make it to the Gilbert cabin. He went to Jeremy and Elena’s new home instead. It was beautiful, and eerily similar to the one that Elena had burned down when Jeremy died – the last time he died. He knocked on the mahogany door which was almost immediately opened by the person he had come to see.

“Stefan?” Jeremy said to the vampire standing in his doorway.

“Hi Jeremy, I’m not going to make it to the cabin, but maybe you can tell me what is so important now instead?” Stefan said to him, still standing on the front door mat.

“Uh, yeah, um,” Jeremy stammered, “about that. I. Uh. Um.”

“Jeremy, do you have something to tell me or not?” Stefan questioned. His patience was running thin and he wanted to eat something, someone, drain them fully of their blood and throw their headless body in a pit along with the thousands he killed before.

“Yeah, I do, Stefan, sorry,” Jeremy said, finally regaining his composure. Then he remembered he had to invite Stefan in, as he had never been to their new home before and vampires needed an invitation.

“Come in Stefan, sorry,” Jeremy apologized.

Stefan stepped over the threshold. He noted that the front entranceway and stairs were almost identical to the home Elena and Jeremy had grown up in.

“I see you threw a little nostalgia in here,” Stefan mused to Jeremy.

“Yeah, Elena wanted some familiar things, things that would remind us of our parents, um, well, my parents. So, Stefan, can I get you a drink?” Jeremy asked the vampire.

“No thanks, if you would just tell me what it is, I would appreciate it. I need to keep moving,” Stefan said to him.

“Ok, no problem. So, you see,” Jeremy stammered again.

It took him nearly 15 minutes to tell Stefan what could have and should have taken only a few minutes. When he finally said his peace, Stefan chuckled at the look of pure relief on the boys face.

“Ok, I got it, you and Elena are not related, you are in a relationship and you want my blessing. You got it. Anything else?” Stefan muttered, turning to leave.

“Are you ok, Stefan?” Jeremy asked.

“No, I’m not ok, but if you dare tell Caroline Forbes, I will rip your head off myself,” Stefan told him.

“Damon?” Jeremy asked.

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry, Stefan, I wish that there had been something we could have done, something we could figure out now,” Jeremy yearned.

“Yeah, me too,” Stefan whispered.

Jeremy put his hand on the vampires shoulder showing a little bro support. He had always liked Stefan, well, almost always had liked Stefan. He had been good most of the time to his sister, except that time he threatened to drive her off the Wickery Bridge to force Klaus to make his hybrids leave Mystic Falls.

“So, you and Elena, huh? Never saw that one coming,” Stefan said, “Guess my batting average is in the negative range now.”

“Elena’s changed so much, Stefan. She is a better person because of her relationship with you and I guess in a way her relationship with Damon as well. I think you might be surprised with who she is when she is alone. I have had a chance to get to know that person, the person that I once thought of as sister and then cousin, but she is neither of those people now,” Jeremy told him.

“I’m just glad you are happy and good luck telling the rest of the gang,” Stefan told him. He had to get out of there. He was going to go vampire crazy if he didn’t get it under control.

They said their goodbyes, Stefan made sure that Jeremy knew that he was accepting and good with him being with Elena, and he left as fast as he could. He didn’t really know where to go, but he was not going to the boarding house. He knew if he walked in there now, he would lose it for sure and getting his humanity back previously had required the support of Damon and a mountain of vervain. He didn’t have Damon and he didn’t want any vervain. Some fresh food would be a nice distraction and he promised himself he would stop short of tearing her head off … ripping the blood bag to pieces, the ones that he told himself he would secure from the hospital in town.


	20. The Gilbert Bull

  

  

 

Elena had received a call from Jeremy to meet him at the cabin as soon as she was done. He wanted her to pack an overnight bag and drive straight there. And so she did. She packed one of Jeremy’s t-shirts to sleep in, her tooth brush and other toiletries she might need, and a change of clothes, threw on her hoodie, which was really one of Jeremy’s so it was huge on her tiny frame, hopped in her car and drove the hour and a half to their cabin.

When she arrived, she noted that there were two other cars there in addition to Jeremy’s. She recognized Alaric’s SUV as well as Tyler’s car. Puzzled, she put her car in park, turned the engine off and climbed out of her own SUV. Most of the lights were on in the downstairs portion of the cabin, even though it really wasn’t a cabin, it was more like another house, just they called it a cabin because it had cabin materials and cabin décor, which Elena mostly hated but would leave because it reminded her of her childhood.

As she climbed the front steps of the cabin’s porch, she saw Matt Donovan as he opened the door for her.

“Hi, Elena” he said to her in his normal somber tone.

“Hi?” Elena said back to him, very confused about why Matt was there as well as the others she began to notice as she stepped over the threshold.

She had been right, that was Alaric’s and Tyler’s vehicles, and there were there along with Matt, Liv and even Caroline. Elena was so confused, even more confused when she did not readily see Jeremy. She walked into the main room of the cabin, turning in a circle, looking at each one of her guests with confusion on her face. They smiled at her, some with tears in their eyes.

And then she saw him, or actually felt his presence first, and turned back towards the door. She looked at him with inquiry in her eyes, virtually on the edge of tears at the fear she felt in her gut.

“I’ve told them. I’ve told them all about us. And see, they accept us, as in us together,” Jeremy declared to her as he crossed the room towards her.

He stopped in front of her and scanned her face, and when her frown started to fade into one of utter shock, he put his arms around her and drew her snug into him, in front of everyone in the room. Elena’s look of astonishment slowly faded into a large smile that encompassed her whole face, and she squeezed Jeremy tight to her pulling his shoulders towards her body. Jeremy embraced her with his strong and loving arms and put one hand behind her head, cradling it as he often did. She could feel his heart racing and her desire began to peak, even with all of the current company.

“I have one other thing to tell you,” Jeremy said to her.

“You make me a nervous wreck when you say that, Jer,” she replied.

“There are two others that are here, two that you cannot see,” he said.

“What do you mean?” she asked him.

“Both Bonnie and Damon are here, they are here in spirit, looking at us kind of like when we were all last here, in this cabin, when Damon was training me to be able to tolerate being around a vampire when I first became a hunter.”

“Are they really here though,” she said to him, pulling back and looking him directly in his eyes.

“They are here, but I cannot see them, I can only feel them. And I know that this will never happen again, I feel it in my gut.”

“But why, why do they keep doing this if they are gone. Why won’t they just rest in peace or whatever it is you do when you die?” Elena asked.

“I am sensing that they wanted us to know that they are happy for us, and ok with this, even though Bonnie already told me.”

“Ok, then everyone is ok with us?” Elena asked again turning in a circle looking them all in the eye.

Alaric was nodding at her when she looked at his face. He reached a hand out to her and said “I just want you to be happy, Elena, and if it is Jeremy that makes you happy, then I am happy. I’m happier that you are not related like we all thought and it will take some time to get used to seeing you together, but yes, I’m ok with it.”

Elena nodded back to him, tears in her eyes again and she bit at her bottom lip. Jeremy approached her and stood next to her side, sliding an arm around her hip and turned with her as she inquired of each of their guests of their true feelings.

Matt was next. He said that he was fine with whatever they wanted and that it would be weird, but he wanted both of his very best friends only to be happy for the rest of their lives, or eternities or whatever it was that vampires and hunters got. They all chuckled at that.

Tyler and Liv were standing together, arms around each other, next to Matt. Tyler raised his fist to Jeremy and Jeremy bumped it with his own fist. “I’ve already told you that if she had ever had any inclination to be interested in me, I would have tapped that so fast ….” And Jeremy nearly decked him. They all laughed hard.

“Yeah, I’m ok with it, Elena. Go for it, make babies and live happily, forever,” Tyler said to her. Liv nodded her head in agreement looking Tyler in the face. It appeared that Liv wanted happily forever with Tyler as well.

Next was Caroline. Elena did cry when she looked at Caroline. She had not seen Caroline in months, especially with her now living in New Orleans with Klaus and their child. Caroline was also crying, tears streaming down her face.

“Why didn’t you tell me,” Caroline asked her, “I would have been supportive and told you to do what makes you happy. Yeah, so this is weird, like Matt said, but you two obviously love each other and you are beautiful together and I’m happy if you are happy. And look, even though you really aren’t a Gilbert, you really ARE a Gilbert, that is if you guys get married, but listen to me, I’m already marrying you off to your hunk of a broth…. guy. I just gotta comprehend it, but as I told Jeremy when he informed us all, if Elena makes you happy, just do it and to hell with what everyone else thinks. Too many bad things have happened to all of us, and you thought you were going to one up us on the shock factor, well, you are wrong girlfriend, because we love you both and if this makes you happy, do it.”

Elena crossed the room and hugged her best friend tight at that declaration. Elena was ecstatic that everyone was so accepting and laid back about the whole thing. She was sure that everyone would hate her and tell her it was morally and socially wrong. She was sure that she and Jeremy would have to pack their bags and leave after attempting to convince their friends that it was ok. She had even tried to persuade Jeremy that they should just email everyone and wait for their responses, or non-responses. Then they would know what they had to do, could do.

But Jeremy had taken it under his own hands, invited them all to their cabin, and told them their secret, about their secret love that they wanted to be public. And they had all accepted his pleas to accept him and Elena together, accepted that they were in love and they had all declared their own love for both of them.

Jeremy approached Elena’s again and slipped his arm around her, and Elena laid her head against his side under his shoulder. Jeremy kissed her forehead and Caroline giggled.

“You two are happy aren’t you?” she said.

“Yeah, Car, we are happy,” Elena answered.

There were toasts all around with the wine that Elena had brought with her for the girls and beer from the fridge straight from the can for the guys. Their friends did seem genuinely happy for them.

“Are they still here,” Elena whispered to Jeremy when they had a moment to themselves when everyone was gushing over pictures of Hope Mikaelson, Caroline’s adopted daughter.

“No, they’re not, vanished for good I assume. But their souls or spirits or whatever was here left good vibes, so they are ok, even happy with us together,” Jeremy replied.

A short time elapsed and each of their friends started to make their excuses to leave. Elena wanted them all to stay, but they refused stating they had other engagements or another explanation. The only one that actually said what they were thinking was Tyler.

“You guys go get it on or whatever it was that was originally planned by Jeremy. Go get ‘er big guy!”

“Ty, seriously,” Jeremy complained.

“Ok, you can try to deny it, but I can feel the sexual tension between you guys from the other side of the room. Come on Liv, let’s go back to my place and have sex for the rest of the night,” Tyler announced.

And suddenly, they were alone, just Jeremy and Elena, as Elena had thought they would be when she made her way up there less than 2 hours before.

“I’m sorry I bombarded you with this tonight,” Jeremy said to his Lucrezia, “I wanted you to not have to worry about it any longer, or have to endure their initial reactions if they were not good ones. But Elena, they were so loving and accepting and not anything like both you and I feared they would be.”

Elena laid her head on his chest, one arm around his waist with her hand on the small of his back and the other pressed against his chest, right over his heart.

“It’s ok, Jer,” she said to him, “I was just scared something had happened to someone again and that was why they were all here, and then when I didn’t see you at first, I was petrified that it was you, my love. OH God, I couldn’t live if something happened to you.”

“I’m fine, I’m here, in your arms where I always want to be,” he told her.

They stood that way for a long time, just holding each other, making small talk about what the others had said about their now open love for one another.

“Elena?” Jeremy said.

“Yeah,” she replied.

“Come to bed with me tonight,” he said to her.

Lifting her head off of his chest, she looked him in the eyes and saw that his pupils were nearly blown, with only small rims of his deep brown eyes showing.

“I go to bed with you every night, Jer,” she said to him. “Why wouldn’t I do the same here?”

“Come to bed with me, Elena. Don’t just fall asleep in my arms tonight. I want to be with you, I want to make love to you tonight. Our first time together now that our friends and family know and accept us together. Let me make love to you in our bed, in our cabin. Let us finally be true lovers in every sense of the word.”

Elena felt like she was falling with those expressions from the man she loved, or maybe she was flying, but she felt like she was suddenly out of her body. Her love for Jeremy Gilbert would surpass any love that had ever existed before, even Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia’s. She felt it, knew it deep in her soul that she and Jeremy were destined for one another, a love that could not be broken or denied no matter what transpired.

“My Cesare,” she said to him, putting her face into his chest. “Take me to your bed and have your way with me, and I will be your Lucrezia forever.”

He scooped her up in his arms when she whispered those words and carried her down the hall to what used to be their parents room. He laid her on the bed and climbed atop her, bracing himself up with his arms and gently lowering himself down to kiss Elena. Their lips collided and tongues pranced upon one another. Clothes were shed and bodies were stroked, caressed and molded into each other hands and mouths. Sounds of pleasure escaped from deep in their throats as anticipation soared and then he mounted her, taking her wholly and claiming her as his for eternity.

Their lovemaking was like none other they had ever experienced they each professed to one another. Afterwards, they laid sated in each other’s arms, tangled in the bed clothes, fully naked and fully loved.


	21. Peace and Love

Bonnie talked Damon into coming with her. It was his last chance, maybe his last chance ever to see Elena. She did not know what heaven or hell or wherever they were going would offer them. She did not know if they would be able to see their still living loved ones. She did not know that there was something else at all, just knew that their time was very limited.

Gram had told her that the time was upon them as well. Damon was still angry and sad and vacillated quickly between those emotions.

When Damon realized that they were in the Gilbert cabin, he nearly had a stroke. He was angry with Bonnie for dragging him there and more angry when he saw all of the living people. And furious when he saw Jeremy Gilbert. Jeremy had sensed their presence, Bonnie and Damon could tell that. But Jeremy was preoccupied with something he was telling the rest of the living.

Damon had to concentrate very hard to understand what Jeremy was saying. At first, it sounded garbled, then more like Jeremy had marbles in his mouth, then he finally was able to catch it, understand the words.

“I love her and she loves me, and we would like you all to accept us, as a couple,” Jeremy was saying.

Damon wanted to punch his lights out. Bonnie put her hand on his arm and he looked at her. She shook her head and left her hand there. Anger seethed through Damon’s veins. Then he saw Elena.

She came into the room, crossed the threshold and went right past him. He could smell her, feel her presence and he wanted to touch her and hold her in his arms. All of the anger he had harbored before was pushed downed with these overwhelming emotions at seeing Elena again.

She had a look of question and concern on her face and then Jeremy walked passed Damon, crossing the room to Elena. She frowned and was talking, but Damon could not understand her. Even if he tried, he still could not understand her words, but he could feel her emotions. They coursed through his body, the fear, then the dread, then the relief and then utter happiness. Jeremy wrapped her in his arms as Damon felt that last emotion, utter happiness. Then he felt the love, the pure, unconditional love that the couple holding each other had for one another.

Damon no longer felt any anger, not towards Jeremy, nor Elena, nor Bonnie or even himself. He only felt Elena’s love for Jeremy and it astounded him. He had felt the same for her when he had lived. Feeling her feel those exact same feelings awed him. He still loved her, but he knew now, felt it, felt that he would never be with her in that capacity again and all he felt was peace. Peace, love, and happiness that Elena felt those feelings as well. He loved her and he was happy. He was happy that she was loved and was loving someone as deeply as he had loved her once.

The peace Damon felt flowed over Bonnie and flowed into Jeremy. Jeremy felt the happiness and love that was being sent out to him and Elena from the witch and the vampire.

And they disappeared. Jeremy sensed their departure, shared it with Elena and they held each other, wanting to never let go.


	22. Voodoo

Caroline was pregnant. She had missed a period and not thought anything about it, then she missed another. _But I’m a vampire. How can I get pregnant?_ she had thought to herself. She had never really understood or even deeply questioned why women vampires continue to bleed monthly, but it happened. Then it didn’t happen.

She bought pregnancy tests at the local pharmacy, five of them to be exact. Every single one of them had the pink + sign after she used them.

When Klaus got home that night, he sensed something was wrong – different about Caroline. It was only partially her mood, but he could sense something that was new about her. He felt it.

“What’s wrong, love,” he asked her as they ate their dinner of blood from the local blood bank.

“Um, I have something to tell you,” she told him looking down at the table, “I don’t know how to say this though.”

Klaus just sat there, looking at her downturned face, wondering if she was leaving him or if he had done something wrong or what the hell was going on.

“What do you have to tell me, Caroline?” he asked her.

Then he heard it. Faintly, he heard something new in the house. It sounded like a humming bird flapping its wings.

“What the hell is tha…” he stopped short.

Caroline lifted her head, looking him dead in the eyes. He suddenly noticed she had her hand over her belly. He could hear it louder now. It was a heartbeat. A tiny heartbeat, soft, but very fast.

His eyes got huge as he looked at her hand resting there. He looked up into her eyes, cocked his head slightly and wrinkled his brow.

“How?” Klaus asked.

“I don’t know, Klaus, but I am.”

In an instant, he was up from his seat and had her wrapped in his arms.

“Love, how? How can this be? When? Wait, I don’t understand,” he said to her.

They were both confused on how it had happened. Vampires cannot get pregnant. Yes, Klaus could impregnate another werewolf as he was a hybrid himself, the Original hybrid, but Caroline was a vampire, plain and simple.

“I don’t know, Klaus,” Caroline said to him, shaking her head, her hand finding its way back down from his shoulder to her belly.

“Let’s go ask Marcus. He seems to know everything or everyone,” Klaus said to her.

They checked with Hope’s nanny first to make sure that the toddler was sleeping soundly and let her know that they would be out for a while. Then they made their way to the center of the French quarter seeking out Marcus.

Marcus laughed. He threw his head back and let out the biggest belly laugh a man could produce.

“Again?!,” he said to Klaus, clapping the Original on the back and smiling sweetly at Caroline.

“That’s enough, Marcus,” Klaus said to him. The two had been able to repair the rift in their friendship over who controlled the city. They had decided to rule it together, as equals and they both were good with that thus far. Klaus was able to maintain a bond with his family this way and Marcus was seeking out the same for himself.

“But how?” Marcus asked.

“That is what we came to ask you, or ask you if you knew of someone we could ask,” Caroline chimed in.

“Hmmm,” Marcus thought out loud.

“Would Zelda know?” Klaus asked him.

“I do not think so, friend,” Marcus replied, “but it is worth a try.” Zelda was an old voodoo priestess that had resided in New Orleans almost as long as Marcus and Klaus combined. Getting her to cooperate was usually less than successful, but it was worth a shot.

The three made their way down the dark side streets passing many drunk and disorderly tourists. Klaus held Caroline’s hand firmly and placed loving kisses on her cheek every so often. He whispered that he loved her and that they would certainly figure this out.

Zelda’s shop was on Iberville Street and at this late hour, it was likely she would be closed. However, they were shocked to find Zelda herself standing on her doorstep.

“I was expecting you,” she said as they approached.

Klaus was extremely apprehensive at her statement and stopped short, holding Caroline back with him.

“Why were you expecting us, Zelda?” Klaus asked her.

“When a vampire is seen buying pregnancy tests, one tends to hear such rumors. I knew you would come asking questions.”

“Well, we do have questions,” Caroline said to the voodoo priestess.

Zelda was a tiny, black woman, wrinkly skin and shocking white hair. Caroline guessed that she was in her 80’s, however she knew that she was much older than that. Zelda ushered them through her front door and into the back of her store. There was a table with four chairs around it in a dimly lit room with a large candle in the middle. She offered them each a seat which they gladly accepted.

Caroline gazed around the room. There were items hanging from the ceiling and she would have sworn that they were shriveled up apples with eyes. When she finally realized that they were shrunken heads, she started and quickly stood up knocking her chair backwards. Klaus was on his feet immediately with his arms around her.

“What’s wrong?!” he shouted.

“What the HELL are those things?” Caroline screeched, pointing at the shriveled hanging items.

“You know what they are,” Zelda said in her smooth voice.

“I DO know what they are! That is disgusting!” Caroline shouted at her. “I am NOT talking to a woman that shrinks heads!”

“Little mama, sit down,” Zelda said calmly to Caroline, “I do not shrink the heads of the living. I shrank the heads of my ancestors and those that are unfortunate enough to die before me. They preserve their magic elements thereby letting me access them to use in cases such as yours.”

“Cases such as mine?” Caroline asked as she lifted her chair back into place, kissed Klaus on his cheek and sat back in her chair next to the old black woman.

“Pregnancies. Unheard of and rare pregnancies. Pregnancies that should not happen. Babies begat from the dead. The long dead,” she said tipping her head towards Klaus, “and the newly dead,” raising her hand towards Caroline.

“This has happened before?” Klaus asked her.

“Indeed, Klaus Mikaelson,” Zelda said in her smooth tones, “it has happened before, but many of those babies do not survive.”

Caroline began to sob. Zelda placed one of her hands over Caroline’s and patted it gently.

“Do not cry, child,” she told Caroline, “for your baby is the first of its kind, a kind more likely to survive than any other that predates it.”

“I don’t understand,” Caroline said, trying to choke her tears back, “the first of its kind?”

“A baby begat from a hybrid and a vampire. The circumstances have to be perfect for a vampire union to begat a child, but for a hybrid and a vampire union, this is a first. And one that we never would have considered.”

“We?” Marcus asked her.

“The magic community, Marcus,” Zelda said to the man that had accompanied the newly expecting couple.

“Why does it always have to be us versus them, we versus you?” Marcus said, shaking his head.

“That is neither here nor there, Marcus, and you know that,” Zelda said to him, turning her attentions back to Caroline.

“The child is strong,” Zelda said to Caroline, still patting her hand. “I can feel it, and its father can hear it, and you should be able to feel it in a few short weeks.”

“What is our child going to be?” Caroline asked suddenly, the words just pouring out of her mouth, “will it be dead like me, a vampire? Or a hybrid like Klaus? Or human? How could it be human? What is my mother going to think? Oh, god.”

“I do not know who your child will be, little mama,” the voodoo priestess said to Caroline looking at both her and Klaus who was leaning over the table as if he could not hear the others speaking, “but I do know that it will be a child. I can sense it already, its life force is strong. And I suspect it will be like any other child, a mixture of all of the best parts of his or her parents.”

“Zelda, can you tell us how this happened, do you know?” Klaus asked her.

“Klaus Mikaelson, you cannot tell me you do not know how babies are made?” Zelda said to the Original hybrid partially teasing him, partially meaning every word of her question.

The others saw Klaus blush at that, even in the dimly lit room.

“Um, yeah, I know how … “ Klaus stammered, “yes, I know HOW this happened, but _how_ did it happen?”

“As I stated previously, it has happened many times before, but not in such a manner, never with a hybrid and a vampire. I suspect that your chemistries are such that it made it possible whereas it would have never happened before. You have certainly had relations with other vampire women,” Zelda said directly to Klaus, “but you have never had a child conceived of a union?”

“Not of which I am aware,” Klaus said looking down at the table partially out of shame and partially him searching his own memories. There were other women, but none that he had loved like Caroline.

“You said that our chemistries might be what made it possible,” Klaus asked Zelda, “do you think we share a similar blood line?”

“That is correct, Klaus Mikaelson,” Zelda replied.

“Oh,” was all that Klaus could mutter.

“What does that mean?” Caroline asked Klaus.

“I do not know, love,” he replied, “and I do not know that it matters, but that it has blessed us with a child. A child that I can hear the heartbeat of, strong and fast within your womb.” He stroked her cheek with his hand, rubbing his thumb along the line of her jaw. He loved this woman, as he had loved no other and now she was carrying his child. _It will be different this time_ he thought to himself.

“That’s right, it is strong, and growing stronger daily,” Zelda said, “and since it is the first of its kind, I cannot tell you what to expect throughout your confinement, during birthing or as the child grows, should it survive.”

“It WILL survive!” Klaus shouted banging his fist on the table. Caroline jumped at the unexpected burst of passion from her soon-to-be husband.

 _Oh no, we are going to have to get married quickly_ Caroline thought.

“Yes, you can if you want to, but modern times to not force that now, little mama,” Zelda said to her.

“You can read my thoughts?” Caroline gasped asking the voodoo priestess.

“You are putting all of your feelings out on the table for everyone to read, little mama,” Zelda replied to the pregnant vampire, “I need not be a mind reader to know the look on your face.”

“What is she talking about, love?” Klaus asked Caroline with his brow furloughed.

“The wedding. I was thinking about how we should probably move up the wedding before I start showing because my mother will not want her grandchild to be illegitimate.”

“Wedding in two weeks,” Klaus told her, “check. Taking care of you and our child for the rest of my life, double check.”

“Let’s go home,” Caroline said to him, squeezing his biceps softly. He knew the look in her eye, that smoldering look. He would take her right there on the table if Marcus and Zelda were not there.

“Zelda, thank you for being so open and honest with us,” Marcus told her.

“Yes, thank you Ms. Zelda,” Klaus chimed in, “May we come back if we have additional questions?”

“Little mama and her man are welcome here any time,” she said to Caroline hugging her around the neck.  You come back when it is nearer time for the baby to come, and I will have some things ready for you, for the birth. We cannot know what to expect, but I have a good idea of some things you might need. You take care, eat right, and that baby will be fine. ”

“I hope you are right. I have to admit I am scared, but I will read all the baby books and read all the things that a human would and should do and do what is right so my baby, our baby” Caroline said looking at Klaus, “has the best chance of survival.”

They said their final goodbyes with Zelda and started walking back to the center of the square where their car waited. Marcus told them that he would provide extra protection around their home as surely when word got out about Caroline’s pregnancy, their enemies would surface quick and hard. Klaus knew that anyone who hated him would want a chance at revenge through his child or the mother of his child, as had happened with Haley. This time, he loved the woman carrying his child and he wanted this child more than anything he had ever wanted in his life, aside from Caroline. He knew that this was the feeling that Elijah was trying to elicit when he told Klaus about Haley’s pregnancy. It just was not there for Klaus then, but he loved Hope. Hope was of his making, and he loved her as if she were his and Caroline’s.

And this child – this child is his and Caroline’s and he would die protecting Caroline if he had to while she carried him or her, and then for the rest of their lives, or his, whichever came first.


	23. Haunted

She was sitting in a dark graveyard in front of a tombstone with the name “Gilbert” etched in the stone. She was kneeling in the Mystic Falls cemetery in front of Jeremy’s grave. She cried and sobbed, screamed his name and felt the overwhelming sorrow at his loss.

“I can’t handle you being gone,” she shouted to the piece of rock.

She laid down in the dirt next to the engraved rock with her lovers name on it and cried, wept at his loss and her devastation was so real, so profound she knew that she would never recover from it.

Suddenly, she felt arms around her, turned to find nothing, but slowly and softly, she heard her name. A man’s voice calling her name. Jeremy was calling to her, it was Jeremy!

He knelt in front of her and pulled her off the ground and into his arms. She continued to weep and he smiled slightly, holding her tight to him. She pulled at his back, clawed at his clothes to pull him in closer to her. The warmth of his body became more real suddenly. Slowly she was made aware of her surroundings and found herself in bed, Jeremy lying next to her with his arms cloaking her body. He was whispering her name into her ear, kissing her gently awake.

“It’s ok, baby, I’m here,” he whispered to her.

“Oh god, you were gone,” she cried into his arms, grief from the very frighteningly real dream overpowering her senses.

“I’m here, Elena, I’m here sweetheart. I won’t ever leave you,” he said gently to her, rubbing her back trying to assure her that she had been dreaming and was really there.

“Please don’t ever leave me,” she begged of him.

“I won’t, Elena, I promise. I will do everything in my power to always be there for you, my love.”

“I love you, Jeremy, I love you so much,” she declared.

“And I love you, too, Elena Gilbert, and I will love you forever.”

He held her in his arms and stroked her face and hair until she slept again. This time she slept soundly and had no nightmares. He hoped that she dreamt of them together, together in the sun and together loving each other. Loving each other forever.


	24. I Just Miss You

Jeremy was recruited to play baseball for Whitmore College during spring semester. He was very hesitant to do so, but his girlfriend talked him into it.

“Play, Jer,” Elena said to him.

“I don’t want to be away from you any more than I have to,” he retorted.

“I will come to every game, home or away, I promise.”

“Don’t make that promise, because I already know there will be times that we will be apart should I accept their offer,” Jeremy said to her.

“Then Jer, it is totally up to you whether you accept or not. I would like for you to, because it would be so hot to see you playing ball again,” she said trying to convince him to play.

She did like the way he looked in a uniform, especially when he was swinging a bat or throwing a ball or running around the bases. She loved to see his tanned muscles ripple when he was on the field, almost as much as she loved to see them undulate when he lay below her at night.

He finally accepted Elena’s pleas and took the offer. There was definitely travel involved and Jeremy had been right. There were times that Elena was unable to see them play.

One weekend, Elena was unable to attend a tournament that Jeremy had to go to in Texas. Alaric had contracted the chicken pox, and because Elena was his nearest and dearest, she was volunteered to stay and care for him. Jeremy encouraged her to do so and they both reluctantly agreed.

Saturday evening, when Elena arrived back and her and Jeremy’s home, it was beyond quiet and Elena was trying to distract herself from Jeremy’s blaring absence. She and Jeremy had been texting each other as much as possible without trying to smother one another. But she couldn’t stand it any longer. She needed to hear his voice.

Jeremy’s phone rang nearly 4 times before he was able to grab it. Seeing that it was his lover, he answered hastily, dashing away from his teammates.

“Hi there,” Jeremy said into his phone.

“Hey yourself,” Elena replied to him.

“I’m still sorry I couldn’t go with you,” she said to him.

“It’s ok babe, I knew something would happen that would prevent you from attending all 56 of our games. How’s Ric?”

“He’s getting better. It appears to only be a mild case, but I have bought nearly all of the oatmeal bath supplies the pharmacy has along with all of their Calamine lotion. He’s a big baby though, so he scratches and whines a lot.”

“I’m sure that he is glad that it is you to take care of him though. I know I would be.”

“My arms ache to hold you,” she said quietly into her phone.

Looking around to make sure no one was listening, Jeremy said back to her, “I wish I were inside of you right now making you …. Oh, hey Brent.”

“I just miss you,” she said to Jeremy.

“Yeah, I miss you, too,” he responded to Elena.

Jeremy had to go rather suddenly, so they said their goodbye’s and ended the call with declarations of love and promises for nights of ecstasy soon to come.

Their love making was incredible, and it put any hot, steamy romance novel that she had ever read to shame. Jeremy had the stamina of, well, a vampire hunter she supposed. Elena also had an incredible stamina, however Jeremy was able to satisfy her faster and easier than any lover she had claimed before. Jeremy would ravage her body with his touch and kisses, paying special attention to those areas that made her breathe faster and heavier. Elena could wrap Jeremy around her little finger with her own tongue and mouth, and the way she had learned to clench specific muscles at very precise times.

They made love in every room of their home, not really intending to, but once their relationship went to the next level and it became physical that first night in their cabin, it seemed they were powerless to get enough of each other.

Jeremy had taken her while she was in the kitchen making breakfast for him one morning. He had been unable to resist the domestication of her and had pinned Elena against the counter, after turning off the frying bacon. She had dropped the spatula on the floor, it clanging as she reached her first climax of the morning. His hands held her hips as she gripped the granite countertop holding herself steady as a wave of pleasure controlled her body yet again.

Elena had seduced him during an episode of the Borgia’s by basically enacting all of Lucrezia’s parts and imagining the Jeremy was Cesare. It was the scene where Lucrezia lay naked on her bed while her wedding dress was being made and she asked Cesare how beautiful she was. He had nearly kissed her on her bed in that scene, but pulled back only when there was a knock on the door. There was no knock on Elena and Jeremy’s door and Elena had her way with him right then and there on the couch in the living room. She had ridden him like a wild stallion and he had roared his pleasure throughout the night.

They often showered together, lavishing love on each other’s bodies under the stream of water. Jeremy felt that he could not keep his hands off of her beautiful form and Elena was willing to let him fondle her as often as he wished. Showers turned into sexual forays under the pouring water, on the soft bathmat next to the tub, on the bathroom counter top, or employing the counter top as Elena steadied herself so they could see each other in the mirror as they achieved the height of their bliss together.

Even when they were not making love, they were either embracing one another or caressing the other in some form or fashion. They truly felt emptiness when not together and touching. Elena surmised that this deep lust may not last forever, but she was certainly enjoying it as long as it did last.

Elena realized she was pining for him. She made a quick call to Matt Donovan and rushed upstairs to pack an overnight bag.


	25. Tournaments Are For Lovers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elena/Jeremy smut

Elena had packed an overnight bag and made a call to Matt asking if he could check in on Ric a few times over the next couple of days. Matt was good with it and Elena drove to the airport. She hopped the next flight to Dallas to go see her Cesare.

The flight was short, just a few hours, and when she arrived at Dallas-Fort Worth airport, she rented a small car and texted Jeremy.

_Hi, where are you?_

He replied almost immediately.

_Hi, yourself. At the batting cages waiting for my turn to practice. We have a game at 1 pm. Where are you?_

_In the car, getting ready to leave. I miss you._

_I miss you, too, and I love you._

_I love you, too, Jer. Call me when you have time._

_I will. TTYL._

Now that she generally knew where he was, she had to narrow down which batting cages he was at. She located where the tournament was being played. She tried Dallas Slam Baseball Club – not there. Next, she contacted Swing Baseball – they weren’t their either. Thank goodness for cell phones and data plans. She finally located them at Stolen Bases Sports Facility in McKinney. She made her way the little over 30 miles from the airport to the batting cages.

When she found him, he was practicing – swinging the bat and cracking the balls into the net on the far side of the cage. The muscles in his arms rippled when he swung the baseball bat and he held the pose as he watched the trajectory of the ball. Then the next one was being fired at him, and then next, and she watched as he cleared all of the balls in what she assumed would all be home runs. He was strong, even strong for a vampire hunter, and this outlet was good for him. He enjoyed it and she enjoyed watching him with his tan skin glistening just slightly with little beads of sweat.

As he finished his turn in the cage, he turned around and saw her standing there smiling at him.

“Elena?” he said, a smile forming across his face.

“Hi, Jer,” she said back to him, beaming her beautiful pearly whites at him.

He rushed to her, flung the cage door open and gathered her in his arms.

“I missed you,” she said into his shoulder pressing him tightly to her.

“God, Elena,” he said breathlessly into her hair, enveloping her as much as he could in his arm, “I have missed you too.”

They held each other for a moment, then the rest of the team saw her and they all shouted their hello’s to Jeremy’s lover. Some knew them from before, when they were known as sister and brother, some only knew them as what they thought had been cousins, but many never knew them as related at all and thought they were a great couple, destined to be together forever.

She watched him practice for another hour, then followed the bus back to the baseball field and watched them play three full games, winning each one by a blowout. Jeremy told her that he played better when she was near, watching him, and she said that she would never miss another game, Alaric be damned if he got sick again.

She brought him hot dogs in between the games and sat with him, legs over his legs, fingers interlaced, arms around each other, lips seeking stolen kisses, never wanting to lose some form of touch.

She compelled his coach to let him stay with her that night. She had rented a room right next to the hotel where the team was staying, but she wanted more privacy than what the two story motel could offer. The four star hotel one block over provided that privacy and she had chosen a large suite for them.

When they got to their room, they could not keep their hands off of each other. Even just a few days apart was too much. Elena grasped at the hem of Jeremy’s baseball jersey and had it over his head in one quick movement. He pulled her shirt off next, exposing her voluptuous breasts encased in a black lace bra. He could see how hard her nipples were even through the lace.

She made quick order of removing his pants and knelt in front of him. He was already semi-hard just from her touch and the anticipation of what was to come, but when she put her lips around the head of his shaft, all of the blood left his head and rushed to where Elena’s warm, silky mouth encased him. She bobbed up and down on his manhood and he grasped her head lightly, only just to steady himself and enjoy her movements even more.

“Oh god, Elena, your mouth feels so good,” he sighed to her.

“Mmm hmmm,” she hummed around his shaft.

“Oh,” he gasped, holding her tighter. She had one hand around his rod, the other wrapped around behind him holding his butt cheek. He let her suck and lick him for a while, just about to the point where he felt he would lose his mind. Then he pulled her arms upwards causing her to rise to a standing position.

He kissed her full on the mouth, tongue slithering inside of hers and he could taste his own musky flavors. She hummed again inside of his mouth this time, her tongue tickling the roof of his mouth, but this time it did not tickle. It drove his arousal up higher and he lifted her by the backside and propelled her backwards towards the couch in the suite. He laid his full weight on top of her, grinding his manhood into her jeans. They continued to kiss as he began to unbutton and unzip her denims. She lifted her hips slightly so he could slide them down easier, kicking her boots off as he did so. She also kicked off her jeans and black lace underwear. She felt Jeremy grasp one of her ankles and place it behind his head. He knelt beside the couch and pulled her to face him, in a sitting position with one leg on the floor and the other behind his head.

He brought his warm mouth straight down on her muff, thrusting his tongue into her cavern and inhaling her scent. She was more than ready for him already, her juices dripping from her cave, and Jeremy lapped eagerly at them, savoring her flavor. He sought out her fleshy protrusion and pulled it into his mouth, gently holding it between his teeth and flicking his tongue over it. Elena shrieked and bucked her hips wildly, pawing at his head, wrapping her fingers in his hair holding him there. He licked her and sucked her feverishly and slipped a finger inside her wet tunnel. It was tight, but slick so he stroked her, building the friction. Hearing her pleasure in her cries, he picked up his pace. When she reached the height of her pleasure and fell over the mountain of ecstasy, he continued to massage her bean with his tongue and slipped another finger inside her, stretching her slightly in preparation for what he had planned next. She ground her hips against his face as she came and he slurped up all of her overflow.

She sighed in contentment when he gathered her in his arms and carried her to the bedroom. He laid her on her back and mounted her, holding himself slightly off of her with one arm, he grasped his pole with his free hand and slipped inside of her. She pulled him close to her, wrapped her legs around his hips and matched the pace of his hips with her own. They slowly ground together, him sliding in and out of her from tip to hilt filling her completely. She gasped and moaned as he pushed their pelvic bones together engulfing his manhood completely inside of her tight wet passage. He kissed her face, her lips, her neckline and her breasts, licking circles around her areola and nipples, pulling them into his mouth and nibbling slightly. He gasped and moaned when she found his ear with her teeth and tongue. She plunged her tongue into his ear and gnawed gently on his ear lobe, sighing soft whispers into his ear causing him to move his hips faster and tighten his grip on her shoulders.

“Oh yes,” he sighed as she raised her hips off the bed letting him sink further into her. Her hips rolled back and he brought her legs forward and wrapped them around his neck. He plunged deep inside of her, his body slapping against hers and her breasts bouncing with each push. She held her own breasts, kneading them gently, pulling her nipples between her fingers.

Her state of arousal had Jeremy ready to spill his entire being inside of her, but he held off, delighting in her pleasure. Her eyes were closed and he had a hard time opening his own, but he wanted to see her, enjoy the vision of beauty and desire below him, as he continued to slide in and out of her, increasing the pace to match the sounds of her pleasure and the intensity with which she fondled herself. She slipped one hand down between them and he thought she was going to fondle her own fleshy nub, however she grasped his shaft and squeezed it tightly but gently.

“Upmf, Elena, I’m going to come,” he said when she did that.

“Good, me too, I’ve been waiting for you,” she whispered, eyes opening slightly to look at him and smile that sexy smile at him.

He was completely undone with that and he amplified his strokes into her. She released her hold on his manhood and he hammered into her, again and again, pushing their pelvic bones together with a slapping sound mixed with their moans of delight. He came right as she squealed his name reaching her climax and they fell into ecstasy, clutching at each other, whimpering into each other’s mouths.

They relaxed in the Jacuzzi style tub in the bathroom, bubbles surrounding them and champagne with strawberries in flutes in their hands celebrating the latest tournament win and more importantly, their love. They relished in each other’s presence, feet, legs and arms entangled, eyes, hands, lips and tongues dancing over each other’s bodies.

Jeremy reclined in the bath, his back against one end, Elena in between his leg resting her back against him. He gently caressed her breasts, kneading them softly and cupping them as if weighing each one. She sighed softly and stroked his legs, massaging the muscles in his thighs and calves. He kissed her neck and jaw line, behind her ear and felt her breath catch as he did so. She shifted in the water, rotating the small of her back and her hips just slightly creating friction against his manhood behind her.

He moaned softly as she rubbed against him and she turned herself in the water and pressed her breasts against his chest, head coming in to kiss his mouth. He pulled her further up his body and she wrapped her legs around his hips. They made love in the warm water with the jets churning around them. She straddled his hips, riding up and down his rod, him holding her hips and matching her strokes. She came hard, on top of the man she loved, and he came as well, each with their heads thrown back, her hair spilling down into the water, him spilling his seed into her.

They made love on the bathroom counter after drying off with the big fluffy hotel towels. She had turned from him to brush her long chestnut hair and her towel slipped slightly down her back, exposing her golden skin and the flare of her hips. He pushed the towel down further exposing the tops of her buttocks and ran his hands around to the front of her belly, pulling her into him. When she moaned deep from her throat, she let the towel drop and caught his eyes in the mirror. His pupils were blown again and she knew that he wanted her right then and there. The feeling was mutual.

His hand found her mound of hair between her legs, so she parted them slightly and let him rub his fingers on her fleshy nub. He sought her wet warm center and when he found it, he was not disappointed with her state of readiness.

Elena could feel Jeremy’s rod throbbing against her buttocks as he had let his own towel fall to the floor. She found his eyes in the mirror again and bit her bottom lip and bent slightly, pushing her backside against his member letting him know she was ready.

He guided his manhood deep into her honey pot, sliding in and out, wet slurping sounds mixed with the slapping of his pelvis against her rump. She cried out as he forced himself deep into her and he held her hips, steadying her and pulling her towards him as he thrust forward, building the friction between them even more so.

“I love you, Elena,” he said softly to her as her gasps of pleasure increased as her climax began to build again.

“Oh god, yes Jeremy, I love you, too,” she panted.

He grunted with each stroke as he plunged deeper and deeper into her, making her have to hold onto the bathroom counter to steady herself. His grunting and thrusting had her ready to come quickly and she did, her legs shaking and she cried out in uncomprehendable syllables. He started to slow the rhythm he was beating into her and she cried out again.

“Don’t stop! I’m going to come again, OH yes! Don’t stop!” And Jeremy quickened the pace and she fell into the chasm of pleasure again and again, three times in rapid succession.

“Oh GOD JEREMY!” she cried out as she came, “Yes! YES! YES! OH GOD, YES!!!”

He came inside her savoring in her screams as he made love to her, the walls of her burrow pulsing around his shaft, squeezing it and enhancing his pleasure as he reached his ultimate peak.

Jeremy held her tightly around the waist and let her recover from their love making. Once her legs has stopped shaking, her lifted her up and turned her around and kissed her full luscious lips sliding his tongue deep into her mouth. He was definitely not sated and could take her again right then, but he let her fall into his arms while he lavished the attention of his lips on her mouth and his hands on her firm but soft backside. When she recovered enough to slide her own tongue into his mouth, he lifted her and placed her buttocks on the bathroom counter and felt his cock throb as he looked down and saw the pink folds of her flesh, slightly swollen from their activities.

He kissed her neck, biting slightly at the flesh over her collar bone and she squealed and dug her finger tips into his backside pulling him closer. His manhood rested on her muff and he could feel it throbbing and growing bigger as she clawed at him while he nipped at her flesh.

His trailed his tongue from the hollow of her collar bone down between her breasts and she sighed and pulled the back of his head into her. He moved to one of her golden globes and pulled the light brown areola and pinkish nipple into his mouth, swirling his tongue around the tip, causing her to sigh even louder. His manhood continued to bounce between them and Elena could feel it writhing down there.

Her own juices were flowing again and she needed him, now.

“I want you,” she breathed to him.

He guided his shaft into her fleshy folds again, riding her slowly, letting her pleasure build. He could feel her legs wrapped around his waist and see her long shiny hair flowing down her back in the mirror. Her breasts bounced slightly with each of his thrusts and she gasped as he filled her completely. She brought her legs up around his neck, straightening them almost completely and he was able to thrust deeper inside of her, making her moan even louder.

He could smell her, feel her, and taste her lips and her breasts, but now he wanted her all over him, every part of him consumed with her. He gently pulled out, teasing her fleshy nub with the tip of his manhood as he did and squatted on the bathroom floor and engulfed her fleshy folds with his mouth.

Elena screamed out as Jeremy took her nether region in his mouth, his tongue dipping inside of her entrance, his nose flicking at the bean that hid underneath the flesh. When he took it in between his teeth and began to flick it with his tongue, Elena lost all sense about her and cried out and writhed her hips with pleasure.

When she finally trembled all over, whether it was from the pleasure or the cold, Jeremy gathered her up in his arms and took her to the bed once more. He would have made love to her all night, but now he just wanted to hold her in his arms, and take in her scent.

She sighed contentedly in his arms. He held her close and pulled the covers over them both. He had to be back on the ball field at 8 am and had games all day again, but he was sure he would be back pleasuring his Lucrezia in this room again tomorrow night.

All night if he could manage it. He pulled her close, closed his eyes and slept with the love of his life who was sighing happily in her sleep.


	26. And love -- twoo love -- will fowwow you fowever…

Their marriage officiate spoke the same words that were used to marry Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love. Not because Caroline and Klaus were such big fans of theirs, well, Klaus was a big fan of Kurt, but neither were a big fan of Courtney’s. The officiate was the true fan of them both. They had asked him to speak words that meant something to him, and as Kol started the ceremony, he said something similar to this:

 _True marriage is more than joining the bonds of marriage of two persons. In its right relation, it's the uniting of two souls already attuned to each other. When such a true bond already exists between man and woman, it is fitting that an outer acknowledgment be made. This acknowledgment is the prime object of this gathering and this ceremony. We are here to bear witness to the entry into the closer relationship of husband and wife of these beloved friends who are already one in spirit. You are now taking into your care and keeping the happiness of the one person in all the world whom you love best. You are adding to your life not only the affection of each other, but also the companionship and blessing of a deep trust as well. You are agreeing to share strength, responsibilities, and to share love. At the end of this ceremony, legally you will be husband and wife, but you still must decide each and every day that stretches before you, that you want to be married. Make such a decision and keep on making it, for the most important thing in life is to love and be loved. May you always need one another, not so much to fill the emptiness as to help each other know your fullness. May you want one another, but not out of lack. May you embrace one another, but not encircle one another. May you succeed in all important ways with each other, and not fail in the little graces. Look for things to praise, often say 'I love you' and take no notice of small faults. May you have happiness, and may you find it in making one another happy. May you have love, and may you find it in loving one another._ _This ring by its shape is a symbol of the undying love that exists between you. The substance of which it is composed is a symbol of purity, which shall ever characterize your mind and hearts in all your relationships together._

Then they said their vows to one another.

“Today, I, Niklaus Mikaelson, give myself to you. My mind is clear and my commitment is strong and without reservation. I take you, Caroline Forbes, to be my partner for eternity. I will never leave you nor forsake you; I will spend all my days at your side. We will share a lifetime of eternal, immeasurable love,” Klaus pledged to her as he slipped the diamond encrusted platinum band on her left ring finger. Then he kissed the back of her hand and she smile lovingly at him.

“I, Caroline Forbes, with all that I am and all that I have, I offer these things to you in love and in joy. From this day forward I will love and comfort you, hold you close, prize you above all others, and remain faithful to you all the rest of our days and for eternity,” Caroline pledge to him as she slipped the platinum band on his left ring finger. She winked at him, then turned back to her soon to be brother-in-law (whom everyone had supposed as dead – surprise!)

And with that, Caroline and Klaus were married.

They had pulled off the wedding of the century in two weeks. Klaus had secured the largest church in the French quarter, The Cathedral-Basilica of Saint Louis, King of France, also called St. Louis Cathedral which sat right smack dab in the middle of the French quarter in New Orleans. It had suddenly become available, on a Saturday for a wedding to be held at precisely 3:00 pm. The woman that handled the wedding bookings was shocked that Klaus should call so soon after the cancelling bride had called. She told Klaus that she had barely hung the phone up from her call when he rang her. She was stunned, as there had very rarely been a postponement so close to the actual date, let alone someone calling to snatch that timeslot up so quickly. Apparently the bride decided to postpone her own wedding until the next available opening, two years ahead. That was unheard of, the woman at the church had told him.

Caroline knew that Klaus had either compelled the bride to postpone her own wedding or had someone do it for him. Then he called and snatched up the timeslot offering double the booking price just for their inconvenience of the first bride that cancelled – poor thing. Apparently it was also ok that there was no pre-nuptial interview between Caroline and Klaus and that Kol was not an ordained Catholic priest, but he was confirmed in Germany back in the 1700’s as a common pastor.

The wedding flowers were ordered. The bridesmaids dress patterns were chosen and Caroline let each of her maids pick their own fabric and color as long as their coordinated well. Her choice was deep plum, but she really didn’t mind at this point- she was marrying Klaus Mikaelson of all things! A designer went directly to each bride’s maid and custom made their gowns. She had the same done for her mother’s gown. And little Hope had a beautiful flower girl dress covered in taffeta flowers in her own favorite color, bright pink.

Caroline had picked out her wedding dress when she was a young girl, so the designer had an easy task based off the extensive amount of clippings Caroline had kept in a scrap book. With a little redesign and gentle nudging to change things here and there, fabric choices were quickly chosen and Caroline’s gown was being cut from the most beautiful white silk in the world. It fit her like a glove and concealed her barely showing belly.

A huge after party was planned at one of the two-story hotels overlooking the gulf. Drinks, appetizers, cocktails, a full six course meal, dessert, and of course, a brides cake and a groom’s cake were served. Klaus had never heard of a groom’s cake, but he was thrilled when Caroline brought out a bleeding armadillo cake, just like the one that had been served at a wedding in a movie Klaus had never heard of, but Caroline vowed to make him watch. He did love red velvet cake with buttercream frosting and promised his new wife that he would watch this Steele Magnolia’s movie with her whenever she wanted, as long as he got to hold her in his arms.

She missed out on the dance with her daddy, but Klaus held her close and encouraged her to dance it with her mother instead. Elizabeth and Caroline Forbes, now Mikaelson, chose a line-dance for the mommy-daughter dance and everyone laughed and chuckled at Caroline’s red cowboy boots.

The bride and groom's first dance was to a newer song by the band, Walk the Moon. As "Shut Up and Dance" started playing, Caroline and Klaus took the dance floor playacting the song out. They hammed it up and every lyric had them spinning, lip syncing, turning their backs on each other only to be spun back around, dancing wildly in each other's arms and smiling the whole time. All of their guests were moving along with them off to the side of the dancing floor watching the couple who was so obviously in love have fun with each other. 

_[Shut Up and Dance - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbcCG7PkI18) _

_Oh don't you dare look back_  
 _Just keep your eyes on me._  
 _I said you're holding back,_  
 _She said shut up and dance with me!_  
 _This woman is my destiny_  
 _She said oh oh oh_  
 _Shut up and dance with me_  
  
 _We were victims of the night,_  
 _The chemical, physical, kryptonite_  
 _Helpless to the bass and faded light_  
 _Oh we were born to get together,_  
 _Born to get together._  
  
 _She took my arm,_  
 _I don't know how it happened._  
 _We took the floor and she said_  
  
 _Oh don't you dare look back_  
 _Just keep your eyes on me._  
 _I said you're holding back,_  
 _She said shut up and dance with me!_  
 _This woman is my destiny_  
 _She said oh oh oh_  
 _Shut up and dance with me_  
  
 _A backless dress and some beat up sneaks,_  
 _My discothèque, Juliet teenage dream._  
 _I felt it in my chest as she looked at me._  
 _I knew we were born to be together,_  
 _Born to be together_  
  
 _She took my arm,_  
 _I don't know how it happened._  
 _We took the floor and she said_  
  
 _Oh don't you dare look back_  
 _Just keep your eyes on me._  
 _I said you're holding back,_  
 _She said shut up and dance with me!_  
 _This woman is my destiny_  
 _She said oh oh oh_  
 _Shut up and dance with me_  
  
 _Deep in her eyes,_  
 _I think i see the future._  
 _I realize this is my last chance._  
  
 _She took my arm,_  
 _I don't know how it happened._  
 _We took the floor and she said_  
  
 _Oh don't you dare look back_  
 _Just keep your eyes on me._  
 _I said you're holding back,_  
 _She said shut up and dance with me!_  
 _This woman is my destiny_  
 _She said oh oh oh_  
 _Shut up and dance!_  
  
 _Oh don't you dare look back_  
 _Just keep your eyes on me._  
 _I said you're holding back,_  
 _She said shut up and dance with me!_  
 _This woman is my destiny_  
 _She said oh oh oh_  
 _Shut up and dance with me_  
  
 _Oh oh oh shut up dance with me_  !

Their guests clapped loudly when their first dance was done and Klaus dipped Caroline in his arms and planted a gigantic kiss on her lips. This was their beginning of forever, a family at last. 

***

Klaus and Caroline cut the brides cake, a seven-tiered beauty which they commenced to smash small slices of it into each other’s faces and then licked the frosting off each other like true love birds.

The rest of the evening was filled with raucous dancing, lots of clinking of champagne glasses encouraging the newlyweds to kiss (which the gladly obliged), and toasts from friends and family.

Elena and Jeremy toasted to their happiness, a sweet speech from a couple that glowed with love themselves.

Klaus’ brothers, Kol and Elijah toasted to the bride and groom and wished them an eternity of bliss.

Tyler and Liv nodded at Caroline and Klaus. Caroline was shocked that they had even received an invitation, but was ok with it and Klaus promised he no longer held any form of vendetta against Tyler.

Matt was introduced to one of Caroline’s cousins from Georgia and they danced the night away together. Caroline hoped that they would keep in touch. Ashleigh was one of the sweetest girls and deserved a guy like Matt. And he deserved someone like her as well.

Klaus held Caroline close, never letting her stray more than an arm’s length away, even when she needed to use the toilet to vomit once. Her morning sickness had made way into all day sickness, but she was having a good day and night so far with only one episode.

Elena caught on quickly, with the sudden wedding and then the vomiting. As a bride’s maid, she should have surmised something was up, especially when she noticed that Caroline kept placing her hand over her own stomach.

“Oh my god, Caroline!” Elena whispered to her, “Are you pregnant?!”

“Shhhhhh!!!!” Caroline shushed her.

“How? What? How did THAT happen?” Elena asked.

Klaus brought Jeremy to his shoulder and he apologized for being such an evil person to him previously and made other small talk, while ELena and Caroline stood behind the broad shouldered men and discussed Caroline’s current condition. Caroline brought her up to speed. Elena was shocked, and happy, and a little scared as well based off of Caroline’s fears.

“You are keeping a great secret,” Elena said to her. “Your mother is going to be ecstatic when she finds out.”

“Yes, she will, but we don’t want to tell anyone else for a while, until we are certain that this little guy will be ok.”

“Little guy?” Elena questioned. “Do you know already?”

“Oh no,” Caroline said shaking her head, “we have no clue, but we already have Hope, so a boy would be a great addition.”

Elena promised to not spill the beans to anyone other than Jer, which Caroline graciously allowed.

The party continued until the wee hours of the morning, and somewhere around two, Klaus and Caroline said their goodbyes and to a steady stream of bubbles produced by their nearly 200 guests, left the hotel in a horse-drawn carriage.

Klaus took Caroline to a yacht in the harbor and that was where they spent their first night, as a married couple, pleasuring each other’s bodies and repeating their vows to one another until the sun rose.


	27. Gilbert or not a Gilbert

 

“Are you ready?” he asked her.

“Yep, just about,” she responded.

He walked into her room and found her in a simple black dress, hair pulled back into a plaited braid. She looked stunning, as usual. He could not help but cross the room as fast as he could and pull her into an embrace. She placed both of her hands on his chest and let her wrap his arms around her, her head on his shoulder.

Jeremy wondered if this was the right step to take, a step that would make their being together more real and acceptable to the citizens of Mystic Falls. They had already announced their feelings to their friends and what bits of their family that still lived, and they had been accepted without any questions. Their town that had been a different story.

 _“Why are your last names still the same if you really aren’t related?”_ one person had asked.

So that prompted the happenings of today. Today, Elena would go in front of the town judge and ask for her last name to be legally changed to Everett. And unbeknownst to Elena, as soon as it was legal and in writing, Jeremy was going to ask her to be his bride. Something that Cesare Borgia could never do with his Lucrezia, he was going to do. He was going to marry Elena and give her the Gilbert name officially, as well as the title of his wife.

“Elena Everett,” she said quietly into his chest, “it sounds kind of weird, doesn’t it, Jer.”

“It sounds beautiful, and you are beautiful,” he said to her.

“What if the judge denies my request?” she asked him.

“He won’t, he couldn’t. It is your name by birthright, so there should be no problem. Both of your parents are dead, and there is no one to contest it. You could change your name to Ronald McDonald if you wanted to,” Jeremy said to her with a smile on his face.

“Ronald McDonald?” she giggled and looked up at him.

“Ok, how about Lucrezia Borgia?” he said to her and she smiled back at him.


	28. His Ripper Self

Stefan had done it again, but he hadn’t meant to. At least that is what he kept telling himself.

He gently placed the woman’s head back onto her neck as the rest of her body sat precariously on the chair in her own front room. He had been invited in by her, of course he had to be invited in. He only wanted to drink in privacy. He was going to compel her and let her heal and then leave as if he was never there.

It was broad daylight and he was making his way back to Portland via New Jersey. Yes, he knew it was the wrong route, but that was where he intended to head to. He hadn’t intended to kill – again.

Lily had called him on Sunday, just as he had predicted, wondering where he was. He told her that he had to make an emergency family related trip and it wasn’t far from the truth. But when he left Jeremy Gilbert’s home after learning that Jeremy and Elena were now an item, he had just wandered for the rest of the day.

He found himself in the cemetery in Mystic Falls – found Damon and Bonnie’s grave. After that, he just wandered. Walking, hitch hiking, running, stealing cars, eating and killing his way up the Eastern seaboard all the way to New Jersey.

He knew that he would have to cover his tracks better, but he could not help himself. He surmised that his ripper self was back, but he had also resisted it when he wanted to – maybe he had resisted it those two times when he didn’t bite that man and daughter that gave him a ride in their van then invited him to their home for supper. He had refused, but he had wanted to drink their blood – all of their blood.

Stefan left the home of the lady in her front room, walked over the hill of her backyard and headed back towards the Jersey turnpike. He would get a ride to New York City next then hop the next plane back to Portland and his new life – his human life. He would try to leave this part of him behind – again.


	29. Worries

He could hear her crying when he walked in the front door of their New Orleans mansion. He followed her wails to their bedroom and found her curled up on the side of their bed, tears flowing like a waterfall.

“Why are you crying, my love?” he asked her.

Klaus gathered her into his arms and held her as she cried, sobbed actually.

“I’m constantly hungry, but I puke it up,” Caroline wept. He stroked the back of her head, smoothing down her hair, holding her close but loosely. He placed a kiss on the top of her head.

“I get that vampire freak out look even when I don’t want tooooo,” she wailed, "and there are these  _veins_ all over my stomach now and they are ugly!"

“It’s going to be ok, love,” he told her.

“Noooo oh noooo, it’s not going to be ok,” she keened. He rocked her gently, rubbing her back lightly.

“This has never happened to anyone before,” she cried.

“But it has love, it has happened to many others over the entire history of man,” he said to her, "haven't you started reading that book about pregnancy?"

“Yes, but it hasn’t happened to anyone like meeeeee,” she moaned.

“There is no one like you, Caroline,” he said softly to her, “there is only one you.”

“But I’m scared, Klaus,” she whispered, “I’m scared because I don’t know what is going to happen, and neither do you.”

She was right, he did not know what was going to happen, but he was going to make sure that his Caroline was safe. He was going to ensure that she was safe for the rest of eternity.

He picked up the  _What to Expect When Your Expecting_  book off of her bedside table and flipped it open.  _  
_

"What week are we in, love?" he asked her.

"Twelve," she said, scooting herself up slightly and resting her head further up on his chest so she could see the book as he was flipping it open. He caressed her head, smoothing back her hair.

"Let's see," Klaus said, adjusting the book in his right hand so that he could read the passage, "this says that the fatigue and nausea should be getting better in a week or so. And it says that the veins are a good sign, that they are indicative of an increased blood supply to the baby. Well, that is curious."

"Why is it curious?

"Vampires do not have any blood circulating, so why would that happen for you?"

"I don't know, but should I be scared?!" she asked her husband.

"No, baby, no, you shouldn't be scared," Klaus said calmly to her, "it's just curious. I wonder if we are wrong about the vampire anatomy."

"Maybe Enzo knows. They did so many tests on him when was held hostage all those years."

"That's a good thought, love," Klaus said, rising off the bed to get his phone. 

"Are you going to call him?" Caroline asked.

"Yeah, I think it is time to reach out to others, others that maybe we can trust to help us understand how this happened and why, and then what to expect," he said.

"When you are expecting a vampire-werewolf-witch-hybrid baby."

Klaus smiled at his wife. Still the silly Caroline he knows and loves. He pulled up his contacts list and scrolled through looking for Enzo's name.


	30. I Am Not My Brother's Sister

“And, _Miss Gilbert_ ,” Judge Rutherford said to Elena, “can you explain to me why it is you wish to change the name you have had your entire life?”

Elena is petrified. She is scared stiff that the judge will deny her request and she will be embarrassed in front of everyone that stands in the court room preparing to ask him to accept their plea to do or change something that highly affects their lives. All she wants is to have the name of her father, the real name of her real father, not the name that was given to her when she was adopted. Of course, she would love to be a Gilbert the rest of her existence, however she is hoping that the change in name will signify to the rest of Mystic Falls how much she is not her brother’s sister. She is sure that if Cesare and Lucrezia could have done the same, that is, be together, that they would have done anything to be together, possibly even change their names.

“Your honor, as you can see in my petition, I was adopted at birth by Grayson and Miranda Gilbert. My biological father was once thought to be the natural brother of Grayson Gilbert. Through the research I have done in the past few months with the help of my attorney, Mr. Holloway,” Elena says motioning to her attorney sitting next to where she stood at the podium in the center of the court room, “it has come to light that John Gilbert, my biological father, is really John Everett. The Everett’s, who you might be familiar with as a long time family here in Mystic Falls, placed my father up for adoption when he was born, the reason for which is still unknown at this time.”

“I see, go on,” the judge says down the Elena, leaning back in his chair and putting his hand to his chin as he listened intently.

“Isobel and John were my biological parents and I wish to have my biological father’s name, Everett,” Elena said shakily to the judge hoping she really didn’t have to explain further.

“Well, Miss Gilbert, I really do not see why you feel it necessary to revert to a name you actually never had. Your reasons for the name change do not truly warrant the need for a modification and I am hesitant…”

Elena interrupted the judge at this point. She knew that if she did not just tell him, tell him the whole truth how she wants to be with Jeremy but is afraid no one will accept a Gilbert dating a Gilbert.

“Your honor, I apologize for interrupting you. I have another reason for the request. Yes, I do wish to have my father’s given surname, but there is something else, “Elena said trying to swallow as her mouth began to quickly dry.

She turned around and looked at Jeremy sitting behind the low ornate wooden wall that separated the spectators from the petitioners and the magistrate. He smiled gently at Elena and nodded, encouraging her to go on with the truth.

“I have always been known as a Gilbert, and even when it was determined that I was adopted by my parents, Grayson and Miranda, I was still thought of as cousin to Jeremy Gilbert. We were raised as brother and sister, however, your honor, things have changed,” Elena explained.

The magistrate leaned forward intently listening to her.

“Jeremy and I are not cousins, in any form of the word. We are not biologically related whatsoever. No similar blood courses in our veins,” Elena said finishing the sentence in her mind _except for when I drink from him and him from me._

The judge raised one eyebrow and motioned with his hand for her to continue.

“I love Jeremy Gilbert,” Elena exclaimed, the audience, save for Jeremy, gasped, “and I want to be with him. I fear that the town’s people will not accept us for a couple and always look at us as brother and sister if my last name remains Gilbert.”

She gulped deeply, tears in the corners of her eyes, her voice shaky, “Please your honor, please consider my request.”

“Well, Miss _Gilbert_ ,” the judge said emphasizing Gilbert, “I am not sure that I have ever had a request like yours, a request in which you want to make it legal for you to partake in what seems to be an incestual relationship in everyone’s eyes but your own and your broth-cousins”.

“We are not cousins,” Elena said, voice unsteady, eyes turned down, deliberating that she could just compel the man and get what she wanted. Her attorney put his hand on her arm to calm her knowing that she must be fuming inside.

“No, but you are correct, the town, many of which sit behind you currently, do think of you as related to Jeremy Gilbert,” the judge said, staring Jeremy straight in the eyes. “I realize that biologically you are not of any relation to each other, however, you have spent 19 years ….?” Elena nodded acknowledging his question about her age, “as this man’s sister. It may take something larger than changing your name to get Mystic Falls to accept you as anything other than a Gilbert.”

Elena’s attorney spoke up at that point, “Your honor, my clients request is not an attempt to change her name for fraudulent purposes as set forth by the law. She wishes to change her name to that which would have been hers as a birth right. She is looking to inherit or affect the rights of anyone one else by this request.”

“Mr. Holloway, you are, as usual, well versed on the law in which you are attempting to skirt around,” the judge said to Elena’s attorney. Apparently her lawyer had a reputation of trying to get things passed in the court that were unconventional. “However, the manner in which Miss Gilbert’s petition has been presented leads this court to believe that she is indeed attempting to cause deliberate confusion. What really makes you think, Miss Gilbert, that the town will accept you and your _cousin_ if you change your name? This petition is denied!” The gavel hit the judge’s desk.


	31. Moving On

Damon no longer felt any anger, not towards Jeremy, Elena, Bonnie or even himself. He had felt the love that Jeremy and Elena felt for each other and it had been so much like what he had felt. When he felt Elena’s love for Jeremy, it stunned him. The depth of their emotions for each other was staggering. The feeling was familiar, the experience from his own sentiments towards Elena.

The feeling of peace, the happiness surrounded by nothingness, was explained by Bonnie as letting go. Damon had let go, let Elena go so she could live her life, her existence in the human living world. Damon didn’t think that he would ever be able to do that, but he almost felt that he had lost control of his feelings, and that it happened without his knowledge or permission. But try as me might, he could not get angry about it again, and he wanted to be angry somewhere deep down inside. It was like a tiny spark, an ember that was trying to stay active but couldn’t.

He sat and pondered it for a long time, back in the dark and dreary Mystic Falls cemetery. They had disapparated, or whatever it was, from the cemetery to the Gilbert cabin and then back again in very quick order. All he had had to do was focus on Bonnie and hold her hand. She had stood there with her eyes closed, lips moving silently and it was done. There and back, Elena had moved on and Damon had to let her.

Once he finally had wrapped his head around it, that this was it for him and that he had seen Elena for the last time ever, he stood from the cold hard ground and went to seek out his witchy companion. Damon found Bonnie in the woods talking with her Gram. As Damon approached them, Sheila Bennett held out her hand to him and he grasped it lightly.

“Deep down, you are a good man, Damon,” Bonnie’s Gram said to him.

Damon smiled at her, just one side of his mouth turning up, his form of a silent thank you. He was numb and tired. He had never felt so tired before.

“What’s next for us?” he asked looking at Bonnie.

Bonnie looked at her Gram. Sheila looked at Bonnie and rubbed her hand along her granddaughters exposed shoulder. Then she looked at Damon and squeezed his hand.

“It shouldn’t be much longer,” she said to her witch granddaughter and the vampire.

“But what shouldn’t be much longer,” Damon said quietly.

“I really don’t know, Damon. I can tell it is soon to come, but I don’t know what it is,” Gram explained.

“Will it happen to us all at the same time?” Bonnie asked.

“I don’t know that either, Bonnie,” Gram told her.

“What will we be like? Still in our bodies like these?” Damon asked.

“I would imagine something similar, if not exactly like you are now, which is exactly like when you died, it will be your best form.”

“My best self. I like that idea,” Bonnie said and looked over at Damon and cocked her head a little and raised her eyebrows. He smiled at her and chuckled quietly.

“How much longer, Gram?” Bonnie asked.

Her grandmother explained that she really could not put a time on it, that it could be hours or days, but she felt more like it might be weeks in human time.

“Great, we have a few hours then,” Damon said sarcastically. Time still moved much faster for him than it did for Bonnie. Since her Gram had created this realm for her, she was more grounded than Damon and his essence just slid through the realm, time was nothing for him.

“You two run along now, enjoy this before it is over. I am not sure I will be back before it happens, but know that I love you, Bonnie. I gave this to you, to both of you, so you could say goodbye. Not many get that opportunity and no supernatural creature will get that chance again since the other side is gone.”

Bonnie hugged her Gram and Sheila lightly hugged Damon, too.

“You be good to her, you hear?” Sheila said to Damon.

Damon furrowed his brow at her request. _Why should I be good to Bonnie? What does she mean?_

“Yes, ma’am,” he said to her politely.

And Sheila was gone, just vanished in front of their eyes.

“That’s so weird,” Damon said to Bonnie referring to the way her grandmother just disappeared.

“Yeah, I guess it kind of is,” she said back. Damon reached down and clasped Bonnie’s hand in his. He looked over his shoulder where Sheila had stood and the light was back. It was brighter again. He wished that he could find its source, but it had eluded him, moving each time he sought it out.

“How are you, Damon?” Bonnie asked him, still strolling along with him hand in hand. She imagined that he had sought her touch because of the plethora of emotions he had felt in the past few days with the whole Elena/Jeremy thing.

“I don’t know. Numb I think,” he responded quietly.

“Can you still feel your love for Elena?” she inquired.

“Yeah,” he said and squeezed her hand just slightly.

“Can you feel anyone else, any emotions for anyone else I mean?”

“Stefan. And Enzo. I miss them.” She rubbed her thumb across his in a soothing manner.

“Yeah, I feel that too, missing someone,” she said.

“Who do you miss, Bonnie?” he said to her.

“Jeremy. And Elena and Caroline.” He rubbed her fingers as well.

“We are just some sad puppies, aren’t we?” Damon said to Bonnie, looking over at her as they continued to walk slowly. They weren’t going any place in particular, just walking. There was no place to go to anyway.

Bonnie chuckled quietly. “I guess that is one way of putting it. But I’m not really sad. I miss being able to see my friends, but I don’t have that deep pulling feeling of excruciating sadness anymore.”

“Neither do I, it is different than the true meaning of sadness. I thought I would feel empty too, but I don’t really. I just feel. I don’t know, I just feel. That is the only way I can put it. Man I wish we had some booze,” Damon exclaimed.

“Me, too!” Bonnie agreed.

“Would you get drunk, Bon Bon?” he asked her in a teasing manner. Bonnie snickered again. She felt like his mood was improving. It wasn’t really a black mood like he used to have when they were living or existing, or a gloomy mood like he had when they first been trapped on the other side and then ended up in this state of limbo. She didn’t know what else to call it – it was an indeterminate state. She didn’t know where they were, well they were in the Mystic Falls graveyard, but they couldn’t leave and no one else was there. And his moods were different, more level.

They continued to walk and talk. They talked about getting drunk, the first time they remembered being wasted, and the most blown they had ever been. Damon told her about drinking as a human and how different it was from drinking as a vampire. He had found out accidentally that booze kept the desire to feed on a human at bay. He had shared that with Stefan, but Lexi had beaten him to it. He did use it to get his brother back once, and he had taught Elena how it helped as well.

“Wow, no twangs of guilt or sadness when I talk or think about her now,” Damon exclaimed. “I really don’t get it, but I do get it at the same time. No wonder no one can ever explain what it is like to be dead.”

“Yeah, it’s strange, almost surreal,” Bonnie agreed with him.

They walked along in silence for a little while, kicking at the leaves under their feet and looking at the foliage around them.

“Do you like me, Bonnie?” Damon suddenly asked her.

“What? Like you?” Bonnie questioned him, stopping their forward motion and looking at him with inquiry on her face.

“Do you like me, as in are we friends, can we be friends? You used to hate me, I know that. I did some bad things, and did some of those things to you and I’m sorry. If you can ever forgive me, that would be nice. Having a friend would be nice.”

“Um, Damon,” Bonnie said to him taking her hand out of his grip and rubbed it through her hair. Then she grasped her bare shoulder with one of her hands almost shielding herself from him. She was unsure why she did that, but she felt that she needed protection suddenly. He immediately detected the change by her body language. It upset him plain and simply, just upset him.

“Ok, fine, we don’t have to be friends,” he said to her sulking off in another direction from where their forward trajectory had been taking them.

“No, Damon! Listen to me,” she called after him.

He could hear her footsteps behind him, her boots crunching the leaves in the woods. It had been forever fall here. At least that was what they called it. It really wasn’t a season, but all the deciduous trees were brown and the evergreens were ever green. It was never too cold and it was never too hot. It was just like fall.

“Damon, please stop and let me talk to you,” Bonnie continued to call out after him. He finally stopped, his back still to her. She walked around him and stood facing him.

“Listen to me,” she pleaded. He looked down at her petite frame, her coffee colored face and green eyes also beseeching him to pay attention to her.

“I get it. You don’t want to be friends, fine.” Damon said to her again, but this time he just stood there and stared at her with his piercing blue eyes.

“Damon! Jeez. I did not say that,” she spoke as quietly and calmly as she could. He did infuriate her at times, but he was so calm, no emotion on his face except for his eyes. She could almost feel the lasers shooting out of his pupils boring holes into her.

“Oh man, I don't, I can't, I didn't want to talk about this. I don't want to talk about this,” she said to him shifting around in the spot where she stood.

“Don’t want to talk about what?!” Damon said to her. “I don’t want ANY more secrets, Bonnie. There better not be any more secrets.”

“There are no secrets, Damon, not like the Elena/Jeremy thing. This is just, this is just about me, and you.”

“Me and you?” he asked her.

“More me,” she said to him, her voice growing quieter.

He had tried again to get angry, angry at her, tried to feel something, but the flame just was not there.

“You don’t have to tell me, Bonnie,” Damon said, looking down at his feet.

“Yeah, I do have to tell you,” she whispered.

Damon looked up at her. She was fidgeting, wringing her own hands, shuffling her feet and her eyes flitting all over. When they finally settled on him, he felt a little uneasy as well.

“Shoot, just go for it,” he said, trying to give her the courage that she apparently lacked.

“I do like you,” she whispered again, so softly he could barely hear it, even with his vampire sense.

“Oh kay?” he said. She took a step towards him, leaving only two feet of distance between them now.

“I like you, so we can be friends if that is what you want,” this time a little louder.

“Ok, good,” Damon responded to her, but he noted she still looked like she could crawl out of her own flesh she was so uncomfortable. “What’s the big deal Bonnie? It’s not like I’m asking you to be my girlfriend, I’m asking if we can be friends, put the past behind us and just be friends.”

She backed up again, just one step and Damon claimed that step back by lurching forward.

“Why are you so damned uncomfortable talking to me about this?” he demanded.

“Because, I like you,” Bonnie muttered again, arms wrapped around herself, head down, eyes darting from his face to the ground.

 _She likes me? Big effing deal, she likes me and that was what I asked her, so why the hell is she so uncomfortable about this. Oh fuck,_ he thought. _She likes me likes me._

“Is it because we fucked? Do you fall in like with everyone you fuck?” he asked her in an exasperated tone.

“No, it isn’t because we did it,” she murmured, still obviously embarrassed by the whole thing and her declaration of developing feelings for him. She tried to talk herself out of it, out of the feelings, but she couldn’t. His allure was just so fascinating.

“It just happened. I started liking you. I don’t know why. You are attractive, you can be sensitive when you aren’t being a stupid prick, and you are damn good in bed.”

“See, it is because we fucked. And we’ve never been in bed, so how would you know?”

“It’s a figure of speech you ass,” she yelled at him.

He took another step towards her. She continued to fidget and tried to step back again. He closed the small bit of distance between them in quick fashion and wrapped one arm behind her back to prevent her from moving again.

“Bonnie,” he said quietly to her.

“I’m sorry, I know, it’s so teenage girl of me,” she said, trying to squirm out of his arms, looking away from him.

Flames started to smolder inside of Damon again, but they were not sparks of anger. They were sparks of lust. She was embarrassed about developing feelings for him. That intrigued him. She continued to push against him, not really trying to get away, but resisting just the same. Her arms were on his chest, bent at the elbow, fists pushing against his chest. He could feel her warmth. Her pulled her lower torso towards him with his arm around her tiny waist. He had never been concerned about hurting her before, but he realized just now how small she was, petite and lovely. He could crush her if he wasn’t careful. Damon loosened his grip slightly keeping his arm in place and still holding her tight to him. She quit fighting and looked up at him.

He said her name again.

“Bonnie.”

His eyes were a soft blue now, gazing lovingly down at her. She could see the longing in them, his pupils blown, large and black. Her heart began to race and she leaned into him, brushing her pelvis against the growing bulge in his pants.

Her tan lips curled into a smile as she gazed up at him. He lowered his head towards her and she tipped her head back giving him easier access to her lips. _Is he actually going to kiss me?_ she thought. The vampire had told her that kissing was too intimate and it was not what he had desired before, he had only wanted her body, but now, he was leaning down to kiss her.

His lips grazed hers, gently at first then with more pressure as his slightly pursed mouth compressed his against hers. He slowly caressed her lips with his. She sighed faintly when his tongue lapped at her mouth wanting her lips to part for him. She opened hers slightly and his tongue wiggled inside of her mouth with such expertise. Her desire grew tenfold as he moaned into her mouth and pulled her head closer to him with his hand on the nape of her neck. He felt her arousal and could no longer hold his own at bay.

He pushed her up against a tree, tearing at her clothes as his lips destroyed her mouth. He ripped his own clothes off as she panted watching him undress. Then Damon ravaged Bonnie’s body with his own using the birch as a support, holding her up by her buttocks, her legs wrapped around his waist. He drove hard into her causing her to squeal and scream with every thrust. When they reached their peak and fell over together into the chasm of ecstasy, she shouted his name and clawed at his back. He spilled his seed into her russet folds and shuttered as he rode out their orgasms.

Damon collapsed to the woodsy ground with Bonnie still in his arms. He gently laid her on her side in the cushion of leaves and the mossy ground and cuddled her into his body. She shivered, but he was sure it was not from the cold. She inhaled and exhaled in little pants still trying to gather her composure. Bonnie pulled at his toned arms drawing herself closer to him, almost as if she wanted to crawl inside of him. She rested her head on his chest and he rested his chin on her head, their legs intertwined.

After a few moments of relishing in their post-coital state, she took a deep breath and sighed and so did he. She looked up at him. He kissed her forehead then pulled her in closer resting his cheek against hers.

“I think I like you, too,” he said into her ear.

 

 


	32. Down the Rabbit Hole

_I’m a ripper. Ok, fine. That’s what I am and I’m going to embrace it. It’s not like I am killing people that matter, right? This old dude here, sitting on the cold, hard concrete of this alley was a homeless man. No one is going to miss him. They probably won’t even know he is dead. I can just take his body somewhere, dump it and call it good. Or maybe I should bury him in Central Park? No, someone would easily notice a freshly dug grave out there. Maybe if I find a secluded wooded area and bury him there, that might work. But how am I going to get him there. God, I’m hungry again. And all these people make me want to just snack all damn day. There are plenty more for me, but I have to cover my tracks. Caroline would hand me my ass if she found out. And Damon, what would he think? What would he say to me, do to me? Last time he vervained me and kept me prisoner in my own home. The boarding house! I could take the bodies back to the boarding house and dispose of them there. For all that matters, I could freeze the bodies and then send them through a wood chipper and no one would ever know. Unless they found one of their teeth, then I would be history. How exactly does one get away with murder? Compulsion is the only answer, but how many people do I have to compel to continue this lifestyle. I’m a ripper and I’m going to eat to my heart is content or ….. or I don’t know what._

Stefan picked up the body of the homeless man wrapped in a brown blanket, draped him over his shoulder and made his way out of the alley. He took the side streets and alleyways as far as he could, but his cover was gone when he stepped out into the busy New York street. It was in the middle of the night, but you would never know it. New York – the city that doesn’t sleep. That was surely the truth. Horns blared; lights were flashing overhead, people milled about. There were so many people that Stefan had to stop and dodge them as he made his way from the dark alley to the nearest taxi cab.

“Central Park please,” he told the cab driver as he set the dead man next to him, holding him as much upright as possible. He was covered in the blanket as if he was cold and he reeked. He reeked of urine and stool and unbathed body. He also reeked of blood, but Stefan knew the only that could smell that over the rest of the stench was himself.

“Your buddy ok there,” the cab driver asked the vampire.

“Yeah, he’s just really drunk,” Stefan lied.

The cab driver nodded and steered the yellow car out into the traffic. It was a short drive to the park from where they were and Stefan didn’t really care where the driver dropped him. As soon as the cab pulled up to the sidewalk, Stefan compelled the driver when he turned to take cash from his passenger.

“I was never here, neither was this man under the blanket, and you were called here to pick up a passenger that never showed,” Stefan said to him, his pupils dilating and constricting with his words.

Stefan got out, pulled the dead man towards him and over his shoulder again, slammed the car door and the cab peeled away. He walked through the park until he found an area that was as secluded as it would get. He dug a hole with his pocket knife faster than a human could dig a shallow grave with any kind of tool. He rolled the dead man into the ground, replaced the dirt, concealed the fresh grave with leaves and other debris and walked away.

  _I need a shower. And something to eat and a good lay would be nice_ Stefan thought to himself.

When he arrived back in the heart of the city, he picked up a prostitute that was willing to take him to a pre-reserved room in a hotel. He showered, then fucked and sucked the whore until the night was dead in more ways than one.


	33. You Are Being Way Too Judgy

“Ugh! I cannot BELIEVE the judge’s audacity to bring his own personal feelings into this matter,” Elena shouted as she and Jeremy drove back to their home.

“It’s ok, Elena,” Jeremy said, trying to calm her. He placed a hand on hers resting in her own lap. She was crying now, silent tears streaming down her face.

“I guess I knew deep down that not everyone would accept us, but the COURT?” Elena sobbed. “It is my name, I should be able change it to whatever I want to whenever I want to.”

Jeremy nodded at her, quickly glancing at her as he drove below the speed limit back to their home. Their home, not the judges or the rest of the towns home, or any of those people that were gawking at them as they walked out of the courtroom arm in arm.

“And those _people_ ,” Elena declared, “the way they looked at us! They do NOT know us. They do not know me or you. How dare they pass judgment on me for who I love? Why can they not wrap their stupid heads around the fact that we are not related? Oh my _GOD,_ even if we were related, Virginia allows cousins to marry! What the hell!”

Jeremy laced his fingers through hers, pulled her arm towards him and placed his lips on her fingertips.

“I love you, Elena,” he said tenderly to her, “it does not matter what they think or whether the judge has a stick shoved up his ass so far that he cannot see past his own bias, I love YOU!”

“And I love you, Jer, but why? Why can’t things ever seem to go my way, our way?”, Elena grumbled.

Jeremy gently pressed the brake pedal stopping the vehicle they were in at the stop sign. He put the car in park, turned his body somewhat and looked her, adjusting his seat belt slightly so he could turn in his seat. Then he put her hand which was still laced in his over his heart.

“What is not right about this?” he asked her, “what is not going our way that all of the people that are closest to us accepted us without question. Those are the people whose opinions matter. Not that senseless, asinine critic that doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground. He probably wouldn’t know love if it hit him in the head. And for the people of this town, who gives a rat’s ass what they think. If it becomes a problem, we leave, simple as that.”

They sat gazing at each other with nothing but love in their eyes for a few seconds, until the car behind them honked its horn. Back to reality they were thrown and they giggled as Jeremy put the car back into gear and drove them home. To their home.

Once inside, he held her again, just as he had before they left. Jeremy had been so sure that the judge would approve her request to change her name, but when he hadn't and been so blasted rude about it, Jeremy had wanted to stake him through the heart and he was sure that the judge was not a vampire.

"I might not have been able to change my name, but at least I still have you," she whispered to him as he held her. 

"We still have each other, Elena," he said to her.

"We do," she said back to him.


	34. Anything For You

Caroline was horny and she wanted Klaus to be at home, right now, in bed, or on the table or the couch or the floor or pressing her against the wall. She didn’t care the particulars, but she wanted him, needed him right now. She sent him a text.

_I want you right now._

Within five minutes, she heard the front door shut and he was up the stairs, through the bedroom door, shutting and locking it behind him. Aunty Rebekah had Hope for the day and that was a god send. There were no other staff in the home, as Caroline had seen fit to dismiss them all. She wanted her husband to herself. Their honeymoon was not really over yet, they hadn’t really had one. And she wanted him all the time now. It had to be related to the pregnancy she deduced.

And she was ready, lying on her back on their bed, white stockings with pink bows the only garments she wore. Those were the ones that he loved the most. When he saw her from the doorway, he growled and bared his teeth. Arousal surged through both of their bodies.

His wife was beautiful with her long blonde, wavy hair splayed behind and beside her on their bed. Her breasts heaved as she panted impatiently. She spread her legs slightly for him, baring her fair haired muff and the pink silky center that lay beneath. He crossed the room with lightning speed shedding his clothes as he went. His cock stood erect and at attention for her as he paused at the foot of their bed.

“You are beautiful, Caroline,” he said with a throaty voice with a growl undertone.

“I want you, husband,” she said to him with her own sultry voice, arms reaching out for him, breasts rising and falling, their pink tips hard in anticipation.

He took one of her silk covered legs and wrapped it around his neck. Crawling up the bed, he pulled his tongue in a line from her ankle to her wet middle in one swift movement. Caroline gasped and clawed at his hair as he drove his tongue into her center.

“OH YES!” she cried as he repeatedly plunged his tongue inside of her, lapping at her juices. He could hear their child’s heartbeat quicken as his wife clenched her abdominal muscles from the pleasure he gave her. They had learned that the child responded to his or her mother’s emotions, but it had only quickened the child’s pulse and was not causing any damage as they had feared. He imagined that his wife’s heart would quicken too when he satisfied her if her heart still beat.

Satisfying her was what he longed for, and was apparently Caroline’s deepest desire these days. He brought her to bliss with his tongue swirling around her fleshy nob and his fingers plunging deep into her. He felt her arousal with the way she clenched her knees around his head as she peaked and from the fluids that ran from her center. She screamed and moaned with nothing but carnality as he continued to lavish his attention on her.

When she finally could no longer bear not feeling him buried deep inside of her, Caroline flipped them both and straddled her husband with his thick manhood pulsing beneath her. She slowly mounted his pole and rode him with the expertise of a seasoned Olympic equestrian jockey. He gripped her hips and bucked into her as well, not being able to lie still beneath the beautiful milky white vampire that rose and fell above him.

She reached her point of ecstasy multiple times, crying out his name, grasping her own hair with both of her hands, him holding her hips and pushing further up into her, or holding her breasts and nuzzling her abdomen with his lips. When she finally slowed her strides, he gently lay her back on the bed and mounted her from above.

Klaus pushed into her again, gently and slowly, listening to the moans of delight escape from her mouth. Her eyes were now closed and she was lost in the joy that he gave her. He nuzzled her neck, pulled on her ear lobe with his teeth and muttered how much he loved her into her ear. When she began to pant again, he increased the speed of his thrusts and kissed her jawline down to her collar bone, holding himself off of her slightly with one arm. He dare not put much pressure on her belly as he feared for the child’s safety, but they knew that the fetus was safely encased in her womb and lovemaking was not to cause him or her any harm, or so Caroline had read in her books.

She held on tight to his shoulders and wrapped her legs around his waist pulling him down on her, crying out his name in contentment as she reached her next climax, the number of which he had lost count. It had to be in the teens he thought and smiled to himself. He loved pleasuring Caroline, the woman that he was going to love and make love to for eternity.

When he finally let himself go, he spilled his seed into her tight entrance, her silky walls pulsing around his manhood, milking him of all that it held as she reached her summit with him.

As they lay sated in each other’s arms, Caroline drawing little circles on his slightly furred chest, she sighed into his neck and whispered, “Thank you for coming home to me, Klaus.”

“Anything for you, Caroline. Even if it was for the third time today.”

“You won’t have to come home for the fourth time,” she said, giggling slightly.

“Are you ready again?” he asked her lifting his head slightly off the bed looking at her sideways.

“I’m always ready for you, my love,” she sighed to him, her hand trailing down his stomach, feeling for that spot which had the most hair and the hard shaft that protruded from it.

Klaus sucked in his breath when she seized his manhood in her warm, silky, small hand. And she gorged herself on her husband’s body for the rest of the day, with nary a complaint from him.


	35. The Missing

“Stefan, I know you are getting my messages and my texts. Please just call me back,” Caroline begged into her phone as she left her 15th message for him that day.

There were reports of a serial killer along the eastern seaboard and Caroline was sure that it had something to do with Stefan. Usually a serial killer story was a vampire, more specifically a ripper. If he was ripping again, he wouldn’t call her back, but she could hope. He was one of her dearest friends and she really didn’t need to have any other distractions right now, especially while she was growing a baby inside of her.

Caroline went to Hope’s nursery that was currently being converted into a play room for her and the new baby. They were changing another room into a nursery to a more neutral look, browns and blues or pinks if the baby was a girl. Hope was playing in the room off to the side and the designers were there. Caroline approached the two women, women that Klaus had hired and were guaranteed to be very discrete.

“What do you think, Mrs. Mikaelson?” the taller, older woman asked her. She had shoulder length hair that was mostly silver, deep blue eyes and her smooth, pale skin made her look much younger than she was. She was of average build and had on a very expensive pair of jeans, a white t-shirt and a black leather jacket. Her red high heels matched the leather briefcase slung over one shoulder.

Caroline turned in a circle and looked at the playroom. It was brightly colored, but not overwhelming and would suit a young toddler all the way up to a pre-teen based off their choices. Book shelves lined one wall with baskets for toys along the lower shelves. There were books of all age ranges from infant to teen, the Hungry Caterpillar up to Harry Potter. She loved the fantasy look and appeal that was carried throughout the room with a hand painted blue and green dragon wrapping himself around two of the walls and a castle theme on another. There were fairies painted through trees in the mural.

“We will add some more boy touches if needed once your little one arrives,” said the other woman to the pregnant vampire. She was slightly shorter than the silver haired woman, a bit more plump and had dark, very short hair. She was dressed in a pair of white capris with an orange and pink floral shirt hanging down low, black flats and a black attaché case. This woman looked markedly older than Caroline guessed she was due to the over tanned state of her face.  _What an odd couple_ she thought to herself.

“I think it looks lovely. You are doing a great job!” Caroline exclaimed. She walked over to where Hope was playing with her au pair and gathered her in her arms. Hope wrapped her little arms around Caroline’s neck and nuzzled her.

“I love you, Hopey,” Caroline said to her.

“I wuv woo, Mama,” Hope said back to her mommy.

The designers continued in their measurements for the final touches and said their goodbyes. Caroline stayed and played with the toddler, brushing her curly hair, putting it up into short stubbly twin pony tails, and gladly allowed Hope to slather her in wet kisses, brightly colored beads, and a pink hat with feathers. Caroline and her daughter had a tea party with white porcelain tea cups covered in pink roses. Hope offered Caroline bites of her play cookies and Caroline happily accepted.  

When the tot began to yawn, Caroline picked her up and took Hope to her new bedroom. The room was painted a pale pink with white accents and furniture low enough for Hope to use now and up until her pre-teen years. Her bed was a full sized bed made from wrought iron and painted a silvery ivory color. Over the bed was a dome style canopy with white gauze draped over it giving off the look of a Cinderella style carriage. She was old enough now to sleep in a big girl bed now as Klaus and Caroline had told her when she pouted to give up her crib. 

Hope was a gentle and caring soul and very rarely cried. She willingly let Caroline tuck her into her plush bed for a nap and was sound asleep within a few minutes. Caroline pushed a few strands of curls out of her face, kissed her plump pale cheek and stood in the doorway watching her sleep. She put her hand on her belly wondering if her baby would be as docile and content as Hope. She quietly left the bedroom shutting the heavy wooden six paneled door behind her.

Caroline made her way down the hall towards her sitting room. It was attached to the master bedroom and Caroline made use of it as often as possible these days. She sat on the oversized white loveseat and gathered her legs around her. On the white, distressed coffee table in front of her was a small vase with white hydrangeas, a tray with three light gray low and wide coffee mugs, and a small stack of books.  On the wall behind her was a montage of white frames holding pictures of those she loved the most.  

She had decorated this room herself and was quite proud of the way it turned out. Klaus always commented how crisp and clean everything was in there, even when she had her crafting materials spread out in her lap and around her. She was making a scrap book of ideas for the baby – the nursery, clothes, Halloween costumes, and gifts, anything she could find. She had done the same with her wedding dress when she was a young girl and was enjoying the prospect of being a new mommy, again, this time her own child from her own womb.

Caroline was 5 months along now and she had had no problems once her morning sickness ended. Blood tasted good again, and so did raw meat she had found. She thought she had felt the baby move and Klaus said he could hear him move. The fetus even hiccupped occasionally Klaus told her. They were sure it was going to be a boy. They had no real knowledge if it was a boy or not, just a gut feeling. Both she and Klaus were concerned about getting an ultrasound because they knew not what the baby would be, but Zelda had assured them that it was a human child. The biggest problem plaguing Caroline right now was her sex drive. It wasn’t really a problem per se, but it sometimes consumed her to the point where all she could think about was Klaus. Klaus’ head between her legs, Klaus hips between her legs, his head buried into her breasts, anything that involved him touching her and pleasuring her she thought of. It had made for some very stimulating nights, and entire days, for the newlyweds.

Her phone vibrated on the table top next to her. She leaned over and looked at the display.

_Stefan Salvatore_

She snatched the phone from the bleached shabby chic end table. “Stefan?” Caroline uttered into her cell phone.

“I can’t stop,” she heard Stefan mutter into the other end.

“Where are you?!” Caroline said, alarmed at his confession.

“New York, I think. I’m walking in the country somewhere, going north. I might be in Canada now for all I know. I can’t stop Caroline. Help me.”

“Klaus and I will be there as fast as we can.”

“Don’t bring him near me, he won’t help,” he begged.

“He isn’t like that anymore, Stef, and I’m pregnant. I can’t come by myself.”

“You’re pregn … how?”

“Just get to the nearest town and call me so I know where you are. I can explain later.”

“I can’t go into a town, Caroline,” he said complaining.

“Oh god, I guess you can’t. Ok, stay away from people and we will figure something out. I need to know where you are though.”

“I will text it to you. Hurry,” he said.


	36. The Ties that Bind

Elena and Jeremy decided that a week away from it all would be good, so they rented a small beach house on the shores of the Outer banks of North Carolina. They walked in the sand, hand in hand or arm in arm, kicking at the waves and just enjoying each other.

“I can’t believe Stefan is a ripper again,” Elena said to Jeremy.

“Yeah, it’s a shame,” he said back to her.

“I hope he is ok,” she said. Jeremy agreed, but he didn’t want to talk about anyone or anything other than him and Elena. They went to the bay that separated a small section of the islands and threw down crab traps. They were able to capture enough blue crabs for a small feast and picked up some fresh shrimp on their way back to the cottage.

At night, they built a small bonfire on the beach and roasted marshmallows and made S’mores. Elena ate them just for the nostalgia of it and Jeremy gulped down five before she knew it. They reclined on pillows and one another and chatted with the friendly neighbors who walked past in the night air. It was a crisp night with only a few clouds so the stars were highly visible. Elena had always liked star gazing and Jeremy reclined on the blanket with her picking out the constellations they knew. When they ran out of the ones they knew, they made their own shapes in the sky.

Jeremy traced his fingers around Elena’s hands, up and down each finger crossing the web to the next and down the pinky and over her palm as they watched the fire. She laid her head down on his chest and looked up at him. He had such handsome features that she could not resist touching him. She traced his face with her fingertips, across the crest of his nose, around each eye, over his eyebrows, back down one cheek, under and around his chin, then around his lips. It tickled slightly but felt more stimulating to him. He kissed her fingers when she traced over his lips and pulled her index finger into his mouth, nipping the tip just slightly.

Elena giggled and turned over towards him, resting more of her body on his. Her hands lay on his chest and she rested her chin just over his heart. He stared into her eyes and she into his. Love abounded between them and there was no need for words. He stroked her back with his large hands and she closed her eyes and enjoyed the beach sounds and the feel of Jeremy. When she felt the bulge in his shorts begin to rise, she opened her eyes and smiled slyly at him. He flipped her slightly sideways on the plaid blanket and brought his mouth down to hers and kissed her softly. She moaned at the feel of his soft, warm lips on hers and felt her arousal start to rise. Jeremy’s hands continued to explore her body, over her spaghetti strap tank, down her silky smooth arms to the small of her back and then to cup her buttocks pulling her into him.

Elena threw one of her long, tan legs over Jeremy’s and pulled him into her as well. He kissed her jawline and her neck, all the places that he knew she liked best and would elicit the quickest response. He would have taken her right there on the sandy beach, but there was still the occasional beach comber walking by. Instead, he continued to stroke her body and ran his hand down her leg and back up to her torso brushing the side of her breast. Her hands were wrapped in his chestnut hair pulling his mouth tighter into her own. Their tongues played on one another and with each deepening kiss, Elena moaned louder at her want for him.

When Jeremy’s hand finally strayed under her shirt, cupped her bare breast and pinched its peak, she let out a gasp so loud that Jeremy looked around to see if there were any spectators. Their fire was starting to die, so the amount of light exposing them was lessening and Jeremy took advantage of this. He unbuttoned Elena’s shorts and slipped his hand into them bypassing her bikini underneath completely. His fingers stroked her slit up and down and plunged into her wet hole and she squirmed with each stroke against his hand.

Elena gasped and sucked in her breath each time he found her plump core or the entry to her already dripping passage. She pulled at his arms and his neck dragging him in tighter to her, craving him to engulf her completely. She ground into his hand trying to force him to sink his fingers in deeper, but her tight shorts constricted his abilities at pleasuring her.

“I need you inside of me,” she whispered to him.

No longer able to contain himself from stripping her bare right where she lay, he scooped her up into his large, strong arms and carried her the distance through the sand to the steps of their cottage.

They did not make it into the house and made love on the floor of the screened in porch with the sounds of the ocean crashing just a few dozen feet away from them. The cool breeze on their bare skin was erotic in and of itself and Elena could never get enough of Jeremy as it was. Their cries of bliss were drown out with the sound of the waves crashing on the beach.

After fully pleasuring each other, they made their way to the bed in the small bedroom and slept in each other’s arms with the curtains billowing around them and the fresh, ocean air enveloping them. They were content in their love and their love making.

The next morning, Jeremy rose before Elena hoping to complete his plans before she awoke. When she finally did wake less than an hour later, she found Jeremy in the kitchen preparing breakfast. He invited her to sit in one of the seats overlooking Nags Head beach and the Atlantic Ocean with one of the most beautiful sunrises they had ever seen. The pink and orange hues being cast across the room were breathtaking and Elena was mesmerized. Jeremy sat across from her, placed a plate with eggs, bacon, hash browns, and orange slices in front of her, and then reached for her hand. She interlaced her fingers with his and they watched as the sun began its climb into the sky.

“Elena,” Jeremy said to her, pulling her eyes away from the view and to her lover.

She met her eyes with his and he had a smile so broad on his face that it looked like it might crack. Not really, it was just his biggest smile ever, the biggest one she had ever seen. She cocked her head slightly and smiled back and went to turn her head back to the sunrise. He touched her chin with his index finger from his free hand and she looked back at him. He looked down at the table and shrugged his shoulders slightly.

Elena looked down at the table and in between their two plates was a black velvet box with the most beautiful 2-carat diamond ring she had ever seen. She gasped and brought her free hand to her throat. Jeremy relinquished his hand from hers, removed himself from his chair and knelt next to the table.

“Will you marry me, my love?” he asked her.

Elena began to cry tears of joy at the sight and the question from Jeremy. She lunged at him, not even allowing him to stand and tackled him to the floor, and planted a full kiss on his lips. Jeremy laughed at her expression of joy and wrapped his arms around her and turned their bodies to where he was looking down at her.

“Yes, oh yes, Jeremy, I will marry you!” she exclaimed. He smiled that broad, face breaking smile at her again and leaned down to kiss her properly. Their tender kiss quickly became one of heightened arousal and she tore at his clothes, pulling his t-shirt over his head and her own over hers. He rolled over onto his back again bringing her with him and she lifted her hips and shimmied her sleep shorts down and he did the same with his own basketball shorts. She mounted him quickly and rode him to a quick orgasm. She continued to shout “yes! Yes I will marry you! Yes!” as she orgasmed twice in quick succession. He caressed her breasts and she threw her head back, her hair spilling behind her and trailing over his legs each time she rose and fell on his hard member. He was unable to push down his own excitement and came with her as she peaked the third time.

Elena collapsed on top of him, still murmuring “yes, yes Jeremy.” He continued to smile and held her until she regained her composure. They stood and he grabbed some napkins to clean himself up and she wrapped her naked body around his back.

“I love you, Jeremy,” she purred into his spine.

“And I love you, Elena,” he responded.

He turned around to face her and brushed her hair back from her face exposing her dark brown eyes. Looking down at her upturned face he said, “So, I guess you aren’t interested in seeing the ring I picked out for you?” he teased.

“Oh my gosh, Jer, I’m so sorry! Yes, please I want to see the ring,” and she smiled sweetly batting her eyelashes at him.

He swatted her playfully on the behind and stooped to find the black box. It had been flung underneath the table and he knelt in front of her again, with the box open and the 2 carat princess cut diamond with channel set diamond encrusted platinum band shining in the now risen sun. The ring was elegant and unlike anything Elena had ever seen. It had twelve princess cut diamonds set into the band and the center stone was throwing off small prisms around the entire room.

“It’s beautiful,” Elena exhaled.

“Not as beautiful as you, my love.” He took the ring from the box, placed the container on the table and held Elena’s left hand. He slid the ring on her fourth digit and kissed her knuckle.

“It fits perfectly,” Elena exclaimed, “how did you manage that?”

“You sleep like the dead,” he teased her. She pulled him back up to her and they hugged and cuddled in the same chair in the small dining room feeding each other bites of fresh fruit, still completely naked, except for Elena’s engagement ring.


	37. Disturbing Behavior

“So, little Stefan is a ripper again,” he said, smiling thinking introspectively back to the last time he had forced Stefan to lose his humanity. This time, Klaus was sure the loss was due to a bigger harm, the passing of Damon.

“We have to go help him, Klaus.”

“I will do it for you, my love, but there is no friendship lost between Stefan and I.”

“Can you try for me, be nice and help him? I told him you have changed. You have changed, haven’t you, Klaus?” Caroline questioned her husband.

“Yes, Caroline, I have changed. What changed me was you. Seeing what I had to lose and knowing what we could have, I changed for you. And I like who I have become and what we are becoming,” and he placed his hand on her stomach. Growing underneath in her womb was their first child together. The first of many he hoped.

“Has he texted you back yet, telling you where he is?”

“No, but we can’t wait. We have to keep moving.”

“The jet is on stand-by, just waiting for a destination so the pilot can submit the flight plan, and then we can leave.”

Caroline and Klaus stood in their bedroom, the sun was spilling in the windows and their dark furniture glistened from its high gloss finish in the light. The four poster bed was perfectly made as Caroline never could stand an unmade bed. It felt so much better to crawl between cool smooth sheets than a bunched up hot mess. The dark wood leaped off the lighter latte colored walls. Caroline had chosen fabrics that matched the color of the walls as near as possible and burgundy accents in the lamps and bit of leather padding the headboard offered matched the dark chocolate brown of the furniture.

She was packing a bag, throwing jeans, t’s, a few sweaters and undergarments in to the open case.

“My pants are getting too tight,” she said to Klaus, breaking the moment’s silence.

He lifted his head from his own dresser drawers and smiled at her. “That means he is growing,” he said to her.

“Yes, and so am I,” she said with a frown.

“You are beautiful, Caroline. You are more beautiful today than the day I first met you. You are radiant in your pregnancy,” he said to her as he crossed the room and embraced her. She sighed into his chest, as his arms were strong and muscular and she felt warm and safe and more loved than she ever had in her entire existence. He kissed the top of her golden tresses and stroked her back with his hands. They stood there for a few moments just enjoying each other. No other motions were made to continue into full blown passion. For one thing, they did not have time, and for another, this was perfect, just them, holding each other at this moment savoring the silence and touch together.

“What about Hope!” Caroline said suddenly.

“She will be fine, love,” he said soothingly to her stroking her back again. She looked up at him still encompassed in his arms, her chin resting on his gray t-shirt covered chest. “I will call Rebekah and see if she will stay here for a few days. We cannot take Hope with us and it is good for her to spend time with her aunt,” he said in his still slightly English accent. Caroline got tingles in her crotch when his accent was prominent, especially when he was reading to her. Those tingles were just on the surface when she felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket.

“It’s Stefan. He’s in the Adirondack State Park. He will wait by,” she said checking her phone again for his location, “by Cranberry Lake.”

“Caroline, that’s not far from Lake Placid,” Klaus said to her with concern on his face.

“Oh, Klaus, we better hurry.”

Klaus phoned the small airport where his Leer jet waited for their destination, then they quietly kissed Hope goodbye, spoke with the house staff and left a note for Rebekah. Klaus had also phoned her, but he knew that she liked handwritten instructions if any were required. Klaus wrote only one thing “NO CANDY!” and they left their home for the airfield.

During the flight, Caroline called Elena. She and Jeremy were on an impromptu vacation in Nags Head, North Carolina, and as much as Caroline hated to interrupt them, she felt that they must know what was going on with Stefan. Elena was shocked and Jeremy was quietly concerned. She let them go so they could continue their time away. Caroline vowed she would not bother them again unless it was vital.

Caroline and Klaus discussed what they were going to do with and for Stefan. It had taken Lexi to get Stefan’s humanity back in the past, and it was close to a decade’s long battle they had been told. They flew into the small Adirondack airport, rented a car and drove the hour to Cranberry Lake.

 Then they began walking through the forest on the edge of the lake searching for Stefan. They found him sitting on a rocky ledge overlooking the water’s edge with a hiker in his lap. He was feeding on her, his eyes black and blood shot, veins protruding around the orbits. He sensed Klaus and Caroline’s approach and pitched himself into a crouched position on all fours.  Klaus was prepared to fight him if necessary, but when Stefan saw Caroline, he immediately calmed.

“Oh god, you are pregnant,” he said to her, his face transforming back into its normal chiseled handsome appearance.

Klaus stood between them, one arm extended behind him holding Caroline back and the other in front of him ready to break the ripper’s neck if it was required.

“Klaus,” Caroline said to her husband.

“Caroline, no, I don’t trust him.”

“I’m ok, Klaus, I won’t hurt her or the baby, your baby?” Stefan asked the Original hybrid.

“Yes, we are married now,” Klaus replied.

“Yes, I knew that, I’m sorry. I don’t even know what day it is and I’m always so damn hungry.”

“Stefan, let us help you,” Caroline pleaded with him.

“I need help, Caroline,” Stefan murmured, “and I need my brother.”

“Oh Stefan,” Caroline said walking around Klaus and he let her. Caroline pulled Stefan in to a hug and held him. He hugged her back and stared at Klaus. He still distrusted Klaus, but he had come with Caroline to help, so maybe he was reformed after all.

“I can hear it’s heart beat,” Stefan said over Caroline’s shoulder more directed at Caroline than to Klaus.

“As can I,” Klaus declared.

“How? How is this possible?” Stefan asked pulling back from Caroline and looking down at her face and her body, her belly just beginning to start to visibly swell.

“We don’t know,” Caroline said, “but there is a woman in New Orleans that is helping us figure it out.”

“A woman?” Stefan verbalized.

“She is a voodoo priestess and she has seen or heard of other vampire babies before, but she said they do not usually survive.”

Stefan’s eyes widened at hearing that and Caroline shook her head and quickly said “but we are farther along than any of the ones that didn’t make it, so we hope we are ok. But right now, I’m worried about you.” Caroline raised one eyebrow and looked alongside her at the dead hiker. Her blood still spilled on the dark gray granite, but she was obviously dead.

Stefan walked over to the corpse and pushed her into the rushing water with his boot.

“Stefan!” Caroline exclaimed.

“What? She was dead. Most of her blood I drank and the rest was wasted right here. A damn shame,” he said shaking his head looking down at the dark red pool of blood that was starting to clot before their eyes. Stefan walked over to the water, dipped his hand in and rubbed it over his face wiping away most of the gore.

Caroline looked at Klaus with concern and consternation on her face and he approached her side and wrapped one arm around her waist.

“How far along are you?” Stefan turned back to the others and pointed at Caroline’s stomach.

“About 5 months,” she said, unconsciously putting her hand on her belly again.

“And you are married now?” he said to them both, looking from one to the other.

“Yes, Stefan, we are wedded,” Klaus said and they instinctively held their hands up showing him the back of their left hands where their wedding rings dwelled.

“I see,” Stefan said.

Unexpectedly, the hair on the back of their necks rose and they sensed someone else coming near. It was not a mortal, but another supernatural creature. Stefan took his four legged stoop again and Klaus pulled Caroline behind him, his teeth bared and he was ready to kill.

“I recognize the scent,” Caroline whispered. Then, from behind a tall lodge-pole pine, appeared Enzo.

“You invited HIM?” Stefan scowled.

“No, I did not invite him,” Caroline said back, looking at Enzo inquiringly.

“Nice to see you too,” Enzo said to the three as he strode across the rocks toward them.

“How did you know we were here?” Klaus asked him.

“Oh let’s see, how does the telephone game work this time,” Enzo said sarcastically, “Caroline called Elena, Elena told Jeremy, Jeremy called Tyler, Tyler told Matt, Matt called me. Good enough answer for you?”

“But how did you know we were _here_ in this spot?” Caroline asked him.

“I followed your scent and then I heard it,” and he training his eyes on Caroline’s belly.

“What the hell? Can everyone hear my baby but me?!” she shouted.

“It’s ok, love,” Klaus said soothingly to her.

“Caroline, you know that I have heard other babies inside of vampires before. I have heard that thud and it is a noise that not many ever get the pleasure to hear, or for very long.”

“What are you talking about?” Stefan asked his brother’s friend.

“Klaus contacted me a while back wanting to know if I had ever heard of or seen an impregnated vampire, and I have, a few at least,” Enzo explained.  “When I was held prisoner by the Augustine group, Dr. Whitmore successfully impregnated at least three female vampires that I am aware of. He also impregnated many human females with vampire sperm. I do not know how it happened or how it worked, but all of the vampires pregnancies ended in spontaneous abortions. Caroline is the first that I have known to happen naturally and make it this far in gestation. And I think that Damon may have killed the others.”

“DO NOT MENTION MY BROTHER!!!” Stefan screamed, springing at Enzo. Enzo pushed him away.

“Whoa, easy boy,” Klaus said to Stefan, again protecting Caroline with his body. He knew that Caroline could take care of herself on any normal day, but this was no longer a normal day, not with Stefan being a ripper and Caroline’s condition.

“Forget this!” Stefan shouted, “I’m going to go eat!” and he began to walk away. It took both Klaus and Enzo to wrestle him down to the ground and hold him. Caroline pleaded with him to calm down and he finally did, again, because he heard her child’s heart beating.

It took many hours of convincing and a long walk back to the car in the dark, but the three were able to convince the ripper to return with them to Mystic Falls. Each time Stefan would get a whiff of a human, his face would contort and he would try to sprint away from them again. But they did it, they got him to the airport and on the jet headed back to their former home. It had been a day and a half now since Stefan reached out to Caroline asking for help, and Caroline knew they were in for a long journey to get Stefan back. She looked at her watch. Noon.  _They better be awake by now_ Caroline thought.  _Or more like out of bed._

“We need you and Jeremy, Elena,” Caroline said to her friend on the other end of the phone. “Stefan cannot do this alone and Klaus and I need help as well.”

Elena agreed once Caroline explained and they made arrangements to all meet back at the Salvatore boarding house.


	38. Every Mother's Son

“You have Stefan in Vampire rehab?” Caroline asked her husband.

“Yes, love, basically,” Klaus responded to her.

“Exactly how does that work, and why can I not see him?” she demanded of him.

“We are trying multiple things; depriving him of blood does not seem to work, so we are trying small amounts of vervain to see if he will at least quit going on benders and killing every mortal I put in front of him,” her very old, but still spry in mind, body and soul husband retorted. “You cannot see him because of our child, my love.”

“What about our child? How does that affect me seeing Stefan?” she asked and instinctually brought her hand to her now very round belly.

“We know not whether he will be mortal or immortal like you and I. Why would I ever take the risk with the lives of those I love the most?”

She crossed the room to him then, those words drawing her into him almost as if there were an invisible rope pulling at her heart. He enveloped her in his arms and she immediately relaxed. He felt it as well; the way they fit, like puzzle pieces, snug together and completing one another. Her belly poked into his abdomen and he was gentle in the way he held her now, not wanting to make her uncomfortable in too tight of an embrace, but damn if he didn’t want to ravage her body every time he looked at her. She carried life within her; life that they created together, a true phenomenon, even a miracle one might call it, if only he believed in any sort of higher power.

“It must be soon,” she said referring to the birth of their son.

“Yes, it is soon,” he said. He knew that too, just like he knew that Caroline would be his from the first time he laid eyes on her. He knew that their son would be born soon. He did not, however, know what the birth would be like for either his wife or the child. No one could tell him. There were only guesses.

“Mama?” came a small voice from their doorway as Hope pushed the door open.

“Hopey!” Klaus called to his daughter. She ran across the room and sprang into his open arms. Then he and Caroline engulfed her into a sweet embrace.

“Who is Uncle Damon?” Hopey asked suddenly taking both her mother and father off guard.

“Who mentioned Damon to you, my little love?” Klaus inquired of his first child.

“Uncle Stefan said it. He said Uncle Damon would have loved me,” Hope responded with no regard to the implications.

“Please do not go near Uncle Stefan right now, Hopey,” Klaus implored of her. “He is sick and Mama and I do not want you to become ill as well.”

“I can’t get what Uncle Stefan has, Papa,” the tiny girl replied. 

“What makes you say that, Hope,” Caroline then asked. She looked at Klaus and raised her eyebrows, then furrowed her brow. She was concerned for what the child was saying, but no one could prepare for what Hope said next.

“I’m not like Stefan, Mama. I’m not like Stefan, or you, or my baby brother.”


	39. She's Come Undone

“I’m not sure how I feel about being back in this house, Jeremy,” Elena said quietly into his shoulder.

“Too many memories?” he asked her and pulled her into him just a little tighter.

“Yeah. Too many memories,” she whispered.

“Damon?”

“Damon, and Stefan, and Katherine. Those memories are not all good memories,” she sighed.

“I know,” he said stroking her back. “Let’s go home. Our shifts are over. Stefan seemed ok today. Are you ok to leave?”

“I think so. Let me go say good night to Caroline and Hope,” and Elena unfolded herself from the warmth of Jeremy and made her way upstairs to what used to be Damon’s room in the Salvatore boarding house. She knocked on the door, Caroline answered quickly, almost too quickly, stepped outside of the room and Elena just assumed that Klaus was in his unmentionables inside.

“Jer and I are taking off, if that is ok?” Elena asked as she embraced her one remaining best girlfriend.

“Of course. You two go home, enjoy being a newly engaged couple, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Caroline responded stroking her bulging belly again.

“Funny Caroline, but Jer and I are nowhere near even talking about children. Yet.”

“Yet. I caught that, Elena,” Caroline jabbed at her friend. “Good night.”

Jeremy and Elena made their way back home in near silence. It had been a chaotic past few weeks after returning early from their beach vacation and engagement to help care for a recovering ripper. Stefan was barely making any headway now on regaining his humanity and coming back from the ripper edge. If only Damon were here to help. Everyone had thought that multiple times thus far.

They wearily climbed the stairs in their home, undressed and climbed into bed, holding onto one another as if someone might just try to rip them apart.

“I love you,” she whispered to him.

“I love you back,” he responded. Without even being aware of it, his mouth found its way to Elena’s. His lips left soft, hot kisses on her lips, across her neck, over her breasts, then down her torso and back up again. He stroked her silky skin with his hands, massaging and caressing in all the places that he knew would help her relax and all those places where he desired her the most. His fingers found her folds, caressed the little bud within and slipped gently into her deep, wet cavern. She pawed at his arms and back as she climaxed and he let her fully peak before slowing his ministrations. Then he started again, tiny circles on over her bud, first with his fingers then with his tongue as he plundered her with first one finger, then two, then three. When she was all breathy from desire again, he made sweet, slow love to the woman of his dreams. As she cried out in her desire for him, he fell over the edge of ecstasy himself.

He hoped that the praise he showed to Elena's body was enough for her to forget her earlier sorrows, but knew deep down that it still plagued her, how Damon and Bonnie had died so tragically. 


	40. Fade into You

“God damnit! I’m not fucking dead!” he shouted to the turbulent, gray sky.

“I think we are,” she responded even though she knew he was not talking directly to her.

“No, Bonbon,” he said in the sarcastic tone that he always used when he called her that, “we are not dead. There is NO way we are dead and still capable of fucking and feeling.”

“Feeling? What exactly are you feeling, Damon?” she asked him. They were sitting on the steps of the mausoleum in the Mystic Falls graveyard when he had his sudden outburst.

“Everything! I fucking feel everything. I feel desire and delight when I fuck you. I feel emptiness and sadness when I think of my brother and my friends. I feel want and need and horny as hell when you are not around and I’m not in between your legs. I feel confused and mad about where we are and what happened to us. I feel it all. I feel EVERYTHING!” he said screaming to the sky again. “So, how the fuck are we dead if I feel all of those things?”

She reached out and stroked his thigh in a gesture that meant she understood and felt compassion. “I’m not sure how or if I can answer that. I’m tired of waiting. I do not like this limbo either. If we are going to hell or somewhere else, I’m ready for someone or something to just come ahead and take us,” she said.

“What if we don’t go together, Bonnie?” he asked suddenly quiet.

“I don’t know the answer to that either, Damon,” she said as she lay her head down on his leather clad shoulder.

“Katherine will surely be in hell. I don’t want to go there,” he chuckled thinking that it would be Murphy’s law or Darwin’s law or someone’s law if he were to end up with her for an eternity.

“I want to be with you wherever we go,” she whispered.

“And I with you,” he said, tilting his own head so it rested on hers.  “Do you think they are ok?”

“I do. They were ok when we last saw them, right?”

“Yes.” As he responded to her, he raised his hand and gently stroked her cheek.

“Then they are okay now, too. Better than okay now, I’m sure,” she sighed at his touch as much as the words she said reassuring herself that her friends and family were fine in her and Damon’s absence.  

“I miss my brother,” he sighed.

“I miss my best friends,” she sighed back.

“I miss Scotch,” he murmured.

“I miss pizza,” she murmured back.

“I miss sex,” he joked.

“Excuse me?!” she said lifting her head and swatting his arm.

“Wanna do it?” he asked her.

“Yes,” she quickly answered.

They removed each other’s clothes as quickly as possible, Damon winning in the speed contest, partially because of his vampire speed and partially because Bonnie had only a shirt and shorts on. While Damon was ecstatic and even more turned on to find she wore no undergarments, Bonnie was still struggling with his clothing because someone was still was donning layers including socks and boots.

“No panties?” he finally breathed into her ear once he was stark naked.

“No,” she panted back.

“Lose them?”

“No,” she sighed as his tongued licked behind her ear and down her neck on her bounding artery.

“Oh fuck me,” he said before he sucked the skin on her neck into his mouth.

“Yes, please,” she gasped.

“This doesn’t feel dead, does it?” he whispered as he kissed over her right shoulder. He loved how her diluted coffee colored skin shimmered from the trail of kisses he left there.

“No,” she sighed again as he lifted her arm above her head and suckled down on her breast. He eased her back to the cold stone they had resting upon and a shiver slowly crawled up her back. He felt the goose bumps rise on her skin and suckled harder on her breast causing her to gasp loudly.

“I’m going to fuck you until you can’t think any more,” he said looking up from between her breasts. Her eyes were closed and she was fully enjoying the attention he was lavishing on her body.

“Ok,” she said.

“Already reduced to one syllable words. I think I like that,” he smiled.

“I like it, too,” she said lifting her head slightly to smile back at him.

“Oh! A full sentence. I better get back to work!”

“Yes, please,” she murmured and let her head fall back to the hard stone as he trailed his wet tongue down her stomach and kissed her center with his wet, hot mouth.

“Oh! Damon!” she yelled.

“Yes?” he asked quickly before diving back in with his tongue flicking at her center.

“Not dead! So NOT DEAD!” she cried as he brought her to orgasm.


	41. Do Not Go Gentle

“I can feel him,” Damon said. “It is like he is breaking. Suffering. Dying,” he continued.

"Who?" she asked him.

"Stefan. I can feel him. Feel like I am being pulled towards him," Damon gasped as he held his chest.

“I’m not entirely sure how that is possible,” Bonnie answered.

“But I feel it, Bonnie. It is like I am being pulled from my core,” he said as he pounded his fist on his chest, right above his never-to-beat-again heart.

“Sounds like heart burn to me,” Bonnie said. She was serious, but how could Damon have heart burn. For one, his heart hadn’t beaten in well over a hundred years. He was dead. For two, he hadn’t had anything to eat in, well, however long they had been there, in that state of limbo. She still couldn’t get a grasp on time there. For the third reason, he was dead. And for four, he was really dead dead this time.

“Not funny,” he said turning away from her. He was somber and reflective, and searching his mind and this feeling he had.

“I’m sorry,” she said and hugged him from behind.

“Something is happening to me. Something, that. I just. Something is happening to me,” he said again. “Do you feel it too?”

“No. I just feel like me,” she said shrugging her shoulders. She hadn’t felt much other than Damon’s body in the past, oh, how long had it been now? No concept of time any longer. Had it been two years already?

“It’s him, Bonnie. He hurts. It hurts me. So bad! Right here!” he said pounding on his chest again.

“Maybe it is grief, Damon,” she said quietly, still hugging him, this time letting her head rest on his leather clad back.

“More than grief. It is real. Bonnie, something is happening,” he said again, standing in the cemetery, his hand on a headstone, his head dropped looking downward. “I can almost hear him calling for me. Him crying out. The pain, the misery.”

"I'm sorry Damon, it sounds like you are mourning him," she whispered.

"No, it's more than that. Different. It's just. It is pulling me. Is it pulling us? You?"

“I don't feel anything, but maybe it is finally happening,” Bonnie suddenly said. “Maybe we are finally moving on! Or YOU are moving on?! Oh no, oh please don’t go without me, Damon,” she cried out as she released her grip on him and moved around to face him.

“Something. Bonnie,” he said, struggling now to even talk. “Something.” He struck his chest again, ran his other hand through his hair. His eyes had a look of panic in them. "It's pull me. He's pulling me."

"Who is pulling you? Stefan?" 

"No. Him. He's pulling me to him. To Stefan. Bonnie. I'm going," he said. 

“Damon! No! Don’t you DARE leave without me!”

“Stefan?” he said quietly. “Stefan? Something is happening! BONNIE!” he screamed and was gone.

Bonnie stood there. Alone. Damon had vanished right in front of her. No soft fade away, no fizzle out, no bright light sucking him away from her. He was gone, just like he had never even been there. Gone.

“NOOOOOOOOO!!!” Bonnie screamed in agony. She looked around her, at the dark, dank cemetery where she now stood alone. Very alone. And then she sobbed, crumpling to the ground, beating her fists against the headstone where Damon had stood just seconds before. "DAMON!" she screamed into the air. "DAMON! Come back!"

 

 

 

 


	42. All My Children

"Mama. Papa. Uncle Stefan did it again," she said in her tiny voice.

"Did what?" Caroline asked of the doll faced child standing at hers and Klaus' feet. 

"The nanny," Hope said. That was all she needed to say.

Stefan's ripper bender was near to impossible to break this time. Klaus, Jeremy, Elena, Caroline from a distance, Matt, Tyler, Alaric, everyone that they could think of to help had been by. Even Enzo. Nothing seemed to work. And Stefan's screams in the basement, the dungeon basically, kept drawing every mortal that entered the house down to him where he proceeded to compel them and drink every last drop of their blood before anyone in the Boarding House was any wiser. This made the third nanny that week, the 7th total death that was on their hands. 

Caroline closed her eyes at her words. Klaus took Hope's small hand in his and led her to one of the wing-backed chairs in the living room. He sat her on his lap and tickled her knee. 

"Now then, what are we going to do about Uncle Stefan," he asked, not really directing at the small child he held, but when she responded, he was shocked. 

"It's ok, Papa. Uncle Damon is coming," she said.

"Damon? Oh, my Hopey, Uncle Damon cannot come. He died some time back," Klaus said to his daughter.

"Yes, I know. But he is coming. Uncle Stefan keeps calling him. Damon is going to come to Stefan," the darling said. 

"No Hope, that cannot happen," Klaus reaffirmed.

"Yes, Papa. Damon is coming. My brother is going to let him."

"Your brother? The baby in Mama's belly?" Klaus asked her, concern written all over his face.

"Yep!" 

Klaus was nearly mortified. He had often wondered if the child of his and Haley's brief union would be of sound mind when she was yet unborn, but when Hope had been born whole and beautiful, he had released those troublesome worries. But then with the love of his life carrying what should have been inconceivable, he worried again and nearly constantly.

Caroline had crossed the room and slipped her hand onto his shoulder. Just her presence reassured him that they were in this together, whatever  _this_ was. 

“I want to go home, Klaus,” she said to him.

“As do I, my love,” he whispered into the top of her head.

“It is nice seeing my mom, but something is not right with Hope,” she sighed. “Maybe it is being here, in this town.”

“Pack your bags. We have been here long enough. We will leave tonight,” Klaus said to his wife.

“Will Stefan be ok?” she murmured, wondering how one of her best friends would do without the added support to his rehabilitation and trip back to humanity.

“That I do not know.”

"Come chase me, Papa," Hope begged as she slipped off of his knee. She was developing a very sure and steady gait for a child of such young age, and the speed. He wondered if he was imagining that. He followed the child outside through the double French doors into the yard, but not before he kissed his wife and ran his finger along her cheek. 

"I love you," he had whispered to her before going out into the sunlight. Caroline stood there, watching the two of them playing, caressing her belly and feeling the child inside tumble to a more comfortable position. 


	43. A Few Good Men

“I think the vervain is making him delirious. He keeps calling for Damon. Does he not remember?” Enzo asked.

“He remembers. But, he is in pain and wants his brother,” Klaus responded. “Do you not call for your mother at times of pain even though you know she is long deceased?”

“That was unnecessary,” Enzo said. His mother had died a horrific death and only Klaus knew of that. Klaus also knew that Enzo had cried and beat upon himself after her death. “We have to make a better plan,” he said trying to get the conversation back on track.

 “You will have to execute a better plan. We must leave,” Klaus said firmly. “This is not a good environment for my wife, my daughter, and certainly not an unborn child.”

“I understand Klaus, but I cannot care for Stefan alone,” Enzo said through gritted teeth.

“No, you cannot. Likely no one can care for Stefan. He may be too far gone this time, and if that is the truth, then a stake through his heart is the most compassionate thing anyone could do for him,” Klaus spat.

“He is your wife’s best friend. You would do that to Caroline?” Enzo asked.

“Caroline would likely agree if it came to that,” Klaus surmised. He had to leave, get his family back to New Orleans, to their home and where Hope could be Hope and not surrounded by people trying to detox a ripper vampire.

“Elena? Do you and Jeremy think you can help Enzo? Can you handle this?” Klaus asked, one of the most serious questions he had ever posed of Elena without it being a threat to her or anyone that she loved.

“I’m not sure,” she said shaking her head. Jeremy stood at her side, in that huge beautifully decorated room in the boarding house and shrugged his shoulders.

“We have Tyler, and Matt as well,” Jeremy said. He was tired of the super natural life they led, but he had Elena and he was happy. She slept in his bed every night. She had agreed to be his wife. She would be Elena Gilbert once again, but this time, it would be Jeremy and Elena Gilbert, husband and wife. He felt like he could do anything, and more importantly, anything she wanted to do. He would be there even if his life were at risk, again. He would not risk her life though, not ever again.

“I will be the one to stake him if I must,” Jeremy added. His statement was acknowledged with nods all around the room. Jeremy was still a vampire hunter even if he did not actually hunt vampires, he still had the strength and the knowledge to do what must be done when the time came.

 “Papa!” Hope said as she trotted in the room. “Damon is coming!”

“No Hope, Damon cannot come my little love. Hasn’t Papa explained that to you?” Klaus said picking the child up off the floor and swinging her in the air before placing her on his hip.

“Yes, Papa, but he is coming. Today!”

“What? What is she saying?” Elena said quietly staring at Klaus and the child with wide eyes.

“I am unsure of the meaning, but Hope seems to believe that Damon is going to be visiting Stefan,” Klaus explained intentionally leaving out the part about the baby being the catalyst for the visit.

“That’s cute,” Enzo said sarcastically. “Now, can we get back to making a real plan, one that does not involve having to stake one of our best mates?”

Klaus paced the room with Hope on his hip as they discussed how to continue to give Stefan small amounts of vervain to keep him powerless all while not letting him waste away but not eat every mortal that stepped within 100 miles of the boarding house. Enzo was anxious and wanted to solve the problem fast. He wanted a schedule, the plans, everything worked out and he wanted to leave the house. He was antsy and watched Klaus as he paced. Jeremy and Elena hashed out plans, drew up schedules, texted and called the others. Tyler and Matt’s schedules were a little more constrictive than the others, those who essentially did not work a private sector job or attend school. It took nearly two hours and Hope had fallen asleep on Klaus’ shoulder. The rocking motion of his pacing along with still being quite young and needing a nap had lulled her off to sleep.

That was until her head shot up and she shouted in her tiny voice “He’s here! Damon is here!”


	44. Let the Right One In

Stefan ached. His body ached. His mind ached. His soul ached. And he was thirsty. His throat burned when he swallowed, and his veins burned from the vervain they had injected him with after the last incident with the last nanny he had eaten. But mmm, she had been tasty, he thought as he licked his lips. Then he ached again at the thought of biting her soft neck, squeezing his jaws shut tighter on the tendons underneath, his teeth sinking further into her skin. And her blood, it had been rich, tasted of metal so rich with iron. He lapped at her neck as the first drips of blood emerged and he thought she might have actually been enjoying it the way she moaned. Then when the moan heightened and she was on the verge of a scream, he bit down harder, pulling her into his body, squishing her against him almost like he was squeezing a juice box from the bottom to get all the tasty liquid out. She stopped moaning and the scream never manifested, but she still struggled slightly, trying to push his head from her neck. He had suddenly wanted to fuck her, but he had never crossed that line. Post mortem with a human. No. He would never cross that line. Next one though, he was going to fuck then suck her blood out. But what if it was a guy? He had never crossed that line either, and the memory faded as he remembered the thought of sex leaving out of his mind at that moment. He wanted soft curves and tasty blood and PAIN! Oh GOD! The pain! It hurt so badly! He was so thirsty. He wanted blood, female blood! Help me! He screamed to himself, or so he thought, but it escaped his lips even though he was unaware. The only person who could ever help him was Lexi, but she was gone! GONE! PAIN! AGONY! It HURTS he screamed to himself. Damon could help him. DAmOn could HELP! HELP! ME! DAMON! Oh that ache. What was it? Was it pain, thirst, both? Just pain! He writhed on the floor in the cell. His hand ached, the joints on fire and he wanted to shove it through the rock wall. His head pounded. He remembered his brother, Damon. DAMON! Getting sucked through the cemetery with Bonnie. They were gone. The light. The sound. DAMON! HELP! And then nothing. No sounds. ME! HELP! He was going to puke. He heaved and retched, but nothing came up. And Pain. More Pain! His lips burned, dry, flaking falling off. He pulled at his hair, willing the pain in his head to subside. And the thirst. Blood. He could still smell blood. Where was it? Near. Had to be close. Fresh. No, not fresh, but not long from fresh. He wanted it. Needed. My hands. Covered in blood. No, no blood. Yes, blood. Dried. Crusted under his nails. Not fresh, but he lapped at it as if it were. Oh god! Just a taste, just a little. He needed it. Needed. Had to have it. PAIN! The pain and the retching. Heaving. Vomiting nothing. Where was Damon? Why didn't he come? Damon! DAMON! He can help me. If he could just find his phone and call him. Call Damon and have him come help. PAIN! OH GOD! THE PAIN! His legs were on fire. He tried to rip his skin off. The fire inside. The thirst. Blood. I need blood. Damon! Damon can help. Call Damon. Can’t call him. Dead. He’s dead. Gone. GONE! MY BROTHER!  I NEED YOU!

DAMON!


	45. Bloodlines

Hope was tucked in bed, sleeping soundly, her golden locks spilled all around her cherub face. Caroline and Klaus quietly left her new big girl room and shut the door behind them.

"I'm so glad we decided to come home. Seeing her sleeping in her own bed so sweetly is what she needed. Maybe what we all needed. But what does she mean, Klaus? She is not like her baby brother, and he not like her?" Caroline whispered anxiously as they were walking slowly down the hall back to their own room.

"She is right. She is not like Stefan, or you. She is hybrid, born of both vampire and wolf, but I am not sure what she meant about the child that grows inside of you," he responded.

"You and I are both vampire, you are also hybrid, so what exactly is that making this child?" Caroline said a little louder as they entered their room and Klaus shut the door behind him.

"Aside from a miracle, I think we will be forced to wait and see for ourselves," Klaus responded. Caroline sighed as he wrapped his arms around her. "It will be soon my love. Not much longer," he whispered into her hair that smelled of sweet pea flowers. 

"Do we need to go see her again before?" she asked him.

"No, I will have her come here when the time is nigh."

"Read to me?" she inquired.

"Of course," he said kissing her head and then lacing his fingers in hers. He got her settled in the bed, pillows propping her upper torso and one under her knees to relieve some pressure from the babe in her belly. He climbed on the giant bed next to her, took the book from his night stand and began to recite the words. 

"Emma was smiling with enjoyment, delighted to see the respectable length of the set as it was forming, and to feel that she had so many hours of unusual festivity before her. She was more disturbed by Mr. Knightley's not dancing than by any thing else. There he was, among the standers-by, where he ought not to be; he ought to be dancing, not classing himself with the husbands, and fathers, and whist-players, who were pretending to feel an interest in the dance till their rubbers were made up, so young as he looked! He could not have appeared to greater advantage perhaps anywhere, than where he had placed himself. His tall, firm, upright figure, among the bulky forms and stooping shoulders of the elderly men, was such as Emma felt must draw every body's eyes; and, excepting her own partner, there was not one among the whole row of young men who could be compared with him. He moved a few steps nearer, and those few steps were enough to prove in how gentleman-like a manner, with what natural grace, he must have danced, would he but take the trouble. Whenever she caught his eye, she forced him to smile; but in general he was looking grave. She wished he could love a ballroom better, and could like Frank Churchill better. He seemed often observing her. She must not flatter herself that he thought of her dancing, but if he were criticizing her behaviour, she did not feel afraid. There was nothing like flirtation between her and her partner. They seemed more like cheerful, easy friends, than lovers ..."*

"You are my Knightley," she said quietly to Klaus, her eyes drooping as she began to doze.

He kissed the top of her head again, pulled the blanket up a little higher but taking care to be sure her feet were still covered. 

 _Soon_ he thought.  _Soon._

*excerpt from Jane Austen's  _Emma_


	46. The Turning Point

He stood there, just where he had been just a second ago, but Bonnie was not in front of him. And it felt different. The tugging was gone, mostly gone, but he still felt his brother calling to him. But it didn't hurt like before. But Bonnie? Where is Bonnie? He looked around him, taking it in. It was different. Almost as if he were looking at the cemetery in color for the first time, but it was dark. Very dark. No, not really that dark. Something shimmered off in the distance. 

_Lights!_

Damon ran, as fast as he could towards those lights. It was not the same simmering light that he had from that one place that he could never get to when he was with Bonnie. 

_Bonnie?!_

"Bonnie?" he said in a hushed quiet. Nothing. Nada. No one responded, nothing made a noise. 

"Bonnie!?!" he said a little louder. Still nothingness, but something. He heard it off a bit in the distance. 

_A car!_

He began to run again, trees flying past him like blurry objects, the ground crunching beneath his feet. The sounds were different, crisp, alive. 

_ALIVE! But where is Bonnie?_

Then that tug again, and the misery. Stefan. He had to get to Stefan. He let his memory carry him back to the Salvatore Boarding House. He wondered if he would be able to walk in or would he have to be invited. 

He reached the heavy wooden door and stood there, arm outstretched and fist clenched, ready to knock, when the door opened. There stood Caroline, an obvious very pregnant belly and holding a tow-headed girl child. 

_How long have I been gone?_

"But Damon? He's here! See him?" Hope was saying to Caroline, pointing at Damon. He ducked behind one of the brick pillars and Caroline did not see him. He was not sure what to do, but that seemed like the best thing to do. Hide. And Stefan still pulled at him. He knew that Stefan was inside. 

_I'm here brother._

Caroline shushed the child, called her Hope, and said that Papa was coming with her favorite doll for the trip back home. 

"He's downstairs," Hope said to him as Caroline walked them past his hiding spot. Damon nodded at her.

"Who is downstairs?" Caroline asked the child.

"Stefan, Mama. Uncle Stefan," the wee one answered. Damon was confused at the Mama and Papa interaction. He surmised that he and Bonnie must have been gone for a lot longer than he or she could imagine. And children? Vampires cannot have children he recalled. But he watched as Klaus exited his former home with bags, many bags, packed them in a black Suburban, helped Caroline into the vehicle, the child as well and drove off. 

Then Damon stood in front of the door again. This time, no knocking. He put his hand on the door's latch, pushed down and the door clicked and slid open with little effort. He stepped inside the home. 

_No invitation necessary._

He walked through the entry corridor, closed the door behind him which made a soft click, and listened. He heard soft murmurs coming from upstairs, a man and womans voice. He thought he might recognize them, but that pull from Stefan. Still in the center of his chest. It led him down the hallway, past the staircase leading upstairs and into the kitchen to go to the basement. 

There he found Stefan in the dungeon room, prison, that they had used many times on each other. He peered through the barred opening in the door to see his brother, prostrate and clawing at the dirt. 

"Damon," Stefan whispered.

"I'm here brother," he said back. 

"Damon! Please, oh god, help me!" Stefan cried, his head still in the dirt. 

"I'm here now brother," Damon said again.

"Oh god, I am going crazy," Stefan cried harder. "I can hear my dead brother's voice now. Please god, if you exist, just let me die."

With Stefan's plea, Damon found the key to the door in the same hiding spot he had left it, turned it in the lock, pushed the door open and walked towards his brother. 

"Stefan," Damon said quietly putting his hand on his brother's head. 

"No, no! It HURTS! No more! I cannot do this!!" Stefan shouted into the dirt, his fist pounding and clawing at the ground.

"Stefan. Look at me," Damon begged him. He could feel his brother, could his brother not feel him?

"If only you were real! BUT YOU ARE NOT REAL! Oh god, I promise. Someone! I promise! I will never eat human blood again! I SWEAR! HEAL ME! Please, or just let me die! This is misery!"

"STEFAN! Damon shouted. "Look up! Look at me!"

Stefan stilled. He turned his head slightly towards the sounds that he was sure was a psychotic break. WIth a barely open left eye, Stefan thought his auditory hallucinations had manifested into a visual hallucination. Until he felt himself being gathered up into arms, strong arms, familiar arms and sounds and he slowly, very slowly realized that his brother was holding him, crying with him, swaying back and forth on the ground. His brother. 

And Stefan thought he had died. That he had died in that spot. Gone to heaven, or hell, or wherever Damon and Bonnie and even Katherine had gone when the other side fell apart. And Damon talked soothingly to him. And Stefan cried, and he accepted his humanity, his fate, that of a dead vampire, no longer undead, but dead and back with his brother. 

Hours later, as the vervain continued to make it's way out of Stefan's system, he realized that the hallucination, the dream of death, the thought that he was dead slowly faded away. He realized, hours later, that his brother was truly there, holding him.

And Damon, at the same time, realized he could no longer feel that pulling, the misery from Stefan that he had felt, but he felt a new misery. That misery was loss. A new loss. Another loss. This time, it was the loss of Bonnie. 

 

 


	47. House of the Rising Son

Klaus hung up the phone in his office and ran his hand through his hair. It was still dark outside, but there was a lot of activity in his home. Rebekah, Elijah, Marcus, Zelda. They were all here. Waiting. Elizabeth Forbes was in route via Klaus’ private jet. He had visited Zelda before they got the emergency call from Stefan and vampire rehab had started. He had the items she had given him buried away in the bedroom he shared with his wife, his vampire wife that was now in labor with their child. He heard her screams coming from down the hall. He rushed out of the office and down the passage to her.

“It is soon,” Zelda said to him as soon as he had the door open.

“I know,” Klaus responded. He crossed the large distance of the room quickly and sat on the edge of the bed next to Caroline. Her face was contorted and she breathed in short puffs of air.

 “Happened. Fast,” she panted. “Owie,” she said softly to him then continued to breathe through what he surmised was another contraction.

“I’m so sorry my love,” he said soothingly to her, stroking her forehead with a damp washcloth. He looked at Zelda and her face was smooth, well, as smooth as her face could get. Her eyes were calm, her face was relaxed and she nodded at Klaus indicating that things were fine.

“You are progressing well, little mama,” she said to Caroline. Caroline panted and curled herself into a ball. Klaus thought she looked like she was trying to put her head between her legs, while holding her knees spread far open with her own hands.

“How long?” Klaus asked.

“Now,” Zelda said as she reached up to catch the babe beginning to emerge from Caroline’s birth canal.

In the matter of a few minutes, their son was born, slippery with blood and fluids.

“Blood?” Klaus said calmly.

“Yes, as puzzling to me as you,” Zelda said back to him as she cleaned the child.

She let Klaus cut the umbilical cord and handed the squalling baby to his mother. He settled immediately as soon as his skin touched Caroline. She kissed his little head, round and perfect with just a minute amount of blonde hair residing there. She counted his toes and fingers. Looked his little body over. 

"He's perfect, Klaus", Caroline said to her husband as she wrapped the babe back in his white blanket.

Klaus sat back on the edge of the bed, near his wife and newborn son. He kissed his wife, smiled and made a mental picture of this sight to keep with him forever. Then he leaned over and kissed the babe.

“Hello Brekan. Welcome to the world, my son.”


	48. The Return

He was with Stefan, but he had to get back to Bonnie. How did he get back to Bonnie? Could he get him back to Bonnie? Who exactly is he? He felt his presence. Before it was just like this thing. Something. That was the only way he could describe it, but he knew it was “he”. And he couldn’t feel Bonnie. His heart ached again. Damnit! Why? Why all this loss all the god damn time?!

“Damon?” he heard Stefan mumble. He looked down and Stefan was murmuring as he slowly awoke.

“Yes, brother. I’m here,” he responded.

“Damon, is it really you?”

“Yes, it is. I’m here. Here,” he said standing from the floor, brushing the dirt off his pants, “can you stand?” He reached down with his hands and helped Stefan to a standing position.

They embraced and clapped each other on the back.

“How?” Stefan asked.

“I really don’t know.”

“Where is Bonnie?”

“Where I was, I guess,” Damon said. That ache, no that gut wrenching, stab you in the heart pain was back again.

“Blood lust?” Damon asked him.

“It seems to be subsiding, or gone?” Stefan said questioning himself.

“Good. Let’s go get you cleaned up, have some Scotch and talk. I need to know what the hell is going on,” Damon said to Stefan.

They talked the next two hours. Got each other caught up on what happened after he and Bonnie disappeared. Stefan felt more himself than he had since the day Damon got sucked into the other side, or oblivion.

“I need to find him,” Damon said suddenly.

“Find who?”

“The one who brought me here,” Damon said quietly. "I have to get back to her, Stef."

"Bonnie?" Stefan asked him.

"Yeah. Bonnie. I don't know what she did to deserve to be abandoned all the time by those that she loves and that love her, but I have to get back to her."

"You're in love with Bonnie Bennett?" Stefan asked him leaning up in the chair in which he sat, anxious to hear Damon's response.

"Yeah, Stefan, I'm in love with Bonnie Bennett."

Then he heard a woman’s gasp behind him, turned in his seat on the leather couch and found Elena and Jeremy standing behind him.

**Author's Note:**

> A work in progress ;)
> 
> For this storyline to work, I am integrating the tales of vampires from many different stories. I have incorporated The Vampire Diaries and Underworld. If anyone desires a further explanation of what I have assimilated into this tale, please let me know in the comments section :)
> 
> I do realize that I spelled Hayley's name differently than how it is spelled in the TV series. There are so many variations, but it is essentially the same person, different spelling (plus, she is dead in this story ;) )
> 
> Would love some reviews :) Let me know your thoughts whether they are good, bad, indifferent, you want more, less, you hate it, you love it? :)


End file.
